


Unfurled

by portoftheartistasayoungc



Category: Original Work
Genre: College, Coming Out, Coming of Age, Companion Piece, F/F, Humor, Roommates, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-15
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-03-07 17:48:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 58,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3177879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/portoftheartistasayoungc/pseuds/portoftheartistasayoungc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charlie and Eden meet as roommates on their first day at Vallance College.  They couldn't be more different and are often at odds.  This is the story of how they fall in love.  It's like a Neil Simon play but longer and gayer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_The Wall by Donald Justice_

_The wall surrounding them they never saw;_  
The angels, often.  Angels were as common  
as birds or butterflies, but looked more human.  
As long as the wings were furled they felt no awe.  
Beasts, too, were friendly.  They could find no flaw  
In all of Eden: this was the first omen.  
The second was the dream which woke the woman.  
She dreamed she saw the lion sharpen his claw.  
As for the fruit, it had no taste at all.  
They had been warned of what was bound to happen.  
They had been told of something called the world.  
They had been told and told about the wall.  
They saw it now; the gate was standing open.  
As they advanced the giant wings unfurled.

* * *

 

“Charlotte, I’m so sorry, but I really can’t stay any longer.  I have a showing early tomorrow morning and I need to get home tonight so I can have enough time to prepare for it,” Dianne told her daughter, brushing some nonexistent dust off the shoulders of her crisp, red skirt suit in the lobby of the bustling dorm building. 

The two were merely drops in the veritable monsoon of activity that was freshman move-in day at Vallance College: a five by five block liberal arts bubble in the midst of the republican, small town of Solomon, Illinois.  The mother and daughter were as much in opposition as the college and its town.

Charlie stood, an almost bored expression on her face, in baggy jeans, a white t-shirt and a backwards Chicago Bulls hat; Dianne in her business suit with its prominent shoulders pads, a string of pearls around her neck, and her salt and pepper hair pinned back in a tight, elegant bun.  

“I know, mother.  It’s fine,” Charlie shrugged.

“And your father wanted to be here—“ Dianne began.

“But he’s working on a very important case right now,” Charlie finished for her mother perfunctorily.  It was a script she’d been privy to her entire life. She’d heard it at her Say No To Drugs speech in 5th grade, her middle school choir concerts, and her high school basketball games.  By now, she knew it by heart.  Dennis, Charlie’s father, was one of the most powerful and sought after lawyers in Chicago, and the fact that he took off two weeks every summer for a family vacation, as well as a week every winter for Christmas and New Year, made him father-of-the-century as far as Dianne was concerned.

“Do you have everything you need?” Dianne asked, a rhetorical question apparently, because she continued on before Charlie could answer. “You have all of your things up in your room, the parking permit and sticker for your car, I put extra money on your Dining Services card.  We’ll put money into your bank account each month.  Can you handle buying your books and supplies after you enroll in your classes?”

Charlie nodded.  “There’s a bookstore somewhere on campus.  It shouldn’t be hard.”

“Well, here,” Dianne said, opening her purse, extracting her billfold and pulled out several hundred-dollar bills, which she handed to Charlie.  “In case we’ve forgotten anything.”

“Jesus, mother, people are going to think I’m a prostitute!” Charlie said, shoving the wad of cash into her pocket as quickly as possible.  “I’m gonna get mugged.”

“That’s enough, Charlotte,” Dianne dismissed her daughter’s comment.  “Your father and I will try to make it down for one of your games this winter.”

Charlie gave her mother a small smile, but knew she wouldn’t be holding her breath.  Pigs would fly before her parents “made it down” for one of her basketball games.

“Do you have to wear that hat, honey? It makes you look like a boy.  I wish you’d try a little harder,” Dianne muttered, frowning as her eyes scanned up and down her daughter’s form. 

“Sandy gave it to me for graduation,” Charlie responded, putting a protective hand over the top of her hat.  “I love it.”

“Be that as it may,” Dianne said, then, her attention was caught by an old, light brown upright piano at the far end of the lobby. “Oh, there’s a piano here. That’s nice. You’ll be able to stay in practice.”

Charlie rolled her eyes.  “I don’t play, mother,” Charlie explained, a detectable edge creeping into her voice.  “Felicity is the one that still plays.”

“Oh, that’s right,” Dianne agreed.  “You complained about how much you hated your lessons for two years until we agreed to let you quit.”

“No, that was Catherine.  I loved playing.  But when I was 9 you told me that I didn’t have any talent at it and it would be a waste of money to keep taking lessons.”

The correct light bulb for the correct daughter finally lit up above Dianne’s head.  “Right.  Well, to be honest, you hadn’t improved in a year.  We needed to spend time fostering your marketable skills. That’s something you should keep in mind when choosing your major, Charlotte.”

“Yes ma’am,” Charlie assented, but her eyes looked dead in their sockets. 

Dianne took a moment to regard her daughter— her baby, her youngest.  This was it for her.  When she got back to Chicago that night, it would be to an empty nest.  A large part of her could hardly believe this day had finally arrived.  She heaved a sigh as tears began to well up in her eyes. 

Charlie didn’t even glance up at her mother, assuming the woman was still in lecture mode, until she heard her mother sniffle. When her eyes finally snapped up to her clearly crying mother, Charlie’s face contorted into a scene of utter confusion.  She was too shocked by her mother’s sentimentality to even make a smartass comment about the scene Dianne was making. 

Dianne brought one hand up and cupped her daughter’s face gently, stroking her cheek for a moment before she cleared her throat with an air of finality.  “Your father and I love you very much, Charlotte,” Dianne told her.  “I hope you’ve never doubted that.”

She pulled Charlie into a quick hug, kissed her cheek lightly, and then turned to go.  She looked back for a just a moment, opened her mouth, but hesitated, and then closed it. 

“Call us if you need any money,” Dianne finally managed, then strode off and left Charlie alone in the lobby of her new home.

“What the hell was that about?” Charlie wondered aloud, still completely flabbergasted by her mother’s uncharacteristic show of emotion.

To be quite blunt, Charlotte Cole was an accident and this fact was never kept much of a secret from her.  There was really no other way to put it. Dennis and Dianne were a lawyer and real estate agent in Chicago.  They already had six children and were both in their 40s when Dianne realized that she was pregnant again.  It had been 7 years since she’d given birth to their youngest and quite frankly, she thought she had passed her childbearing years.  Charlotte’s sudden appearance was not on anyone’s radar and consequently, she was always a bit of a wrench in the gears of the Cole Family. 

Six months after Charlotte was born, Dianne had hired a nanny and went back to work.  She’d stayed at home for 12 years raising her children and she missed working. In the two years since her last child had started school, Dianne had established herself as an up and coming real estate agent, dealing mostly with big name clients looking for properties downtown.  She didn’t want to lose all the ground she’d been able to gain in that time.

For the most part, Charlie was raised by a succession of inattentive nannies until age 11.  None of them hadn’t lasted very long…for one reason or another. Charlie had a bad habit of scaring them off with her various shenanigans.  Those shenanigans were also why Charlie had such a strained and tenuous relationship with her siblings.

Charlie had stolen what little attention her parents’ had for Felicity and Elizabeth when she was born and had, apparently, used Elizabeth’s bed for a potty training exercise while her mother was on a conference call one weekend. At 6 years old, Charlie had become violently ill at Dan’s high school graduation and projectile vomited all over his girlfriend’s family, who were seated in front of the Coles, during the ceremony. She’d learned to read by stealing Catherine’s diary and would quote passages of it whenever her sister brought boys over to their house in Lincoln Park.   At 8, she’d crashed Ben’s beloved Camaro over Christmas break when he was home from college and she decided to take it for a joyride while everyone else was busy decorating the tree.  The summer she was 10, she’d cried throughout the day when her oldest brother, Aaron, got married and ruined every wedding photo she’d been in.

Finally when Charlie was just starting 5th grade, her parents’ had hired a young woman named Sandy to look after her. Sandy had become her surrogate mother and friend and for the past 7 years had showed Charlotte more love and understanding than any of her family members ever had. It was Sandy, Charlie thought, who deserved that tearful good bye, not Dianne.  Sandy was the reason she had even gotten into college, as far as Charlie was concerned.  Without her patience and encouragement, Charlie wouldn’t have even applied.

Standing in the lobby of Craft Hall, the freshman, all girls dorm at Vallance, Charlie suddenly felt very lonely.  She wandered slowly through the lobby, weaving between anxious freshman, middle-aged men carrying things that were too heavy for them, and volunteers from Residential Life, all of them wearing purple shirts, who were pointing wayward souls in the right direction. 

Charlie perched herself on the worn, wooden bench of the upright piano and ran her fingers over the dingy, yellow keys, tapping a few at random.  When she’d taken lessons, _Heart and Soul_ , was Charlie’s favorite song to play, although, she’d never mastered playing both parts of the song at the same time.  She could still remember the basic melody, though, so she started to slowly pick out the notes as they came back to her.  Charlie was just starting on the melody a third time, getting into the rhythm of it, when someone sat down next to her on the edge of the piano bench.

Charlie glanced over at the intruder, to throw a snarky comment at their presumption, but she was momentarily struck dumb. This person, this _woman_ , was _gorgeous_. She had skin the color of chocolate milk (Charlie’s favorite drink), deep brown eyes, eyebrows that reminded Charlie of Egyptian hieroglyphs, and tightly coiled black hair that clouded around her heart-shaped face.  Her lips were full and soft and completely enticing.   And her body, Charlie thought letting her eyes trail momentarily away from that hypnotic face, it wasn’t lean and sharp the way her own was.  No, it was much better, Charlie decided. It was full and curvy and delicious.  She wanted to run her hands all over that body. It was by no means Charlie’s first time feeling attracted to a woman, but it was the first time she felt it like a train running straight through her stomach. The attraction was complete, immediate, and undeniable. 

“Keep going,” the regal goddess spoke to Charlie, who was still in her reverie, out of that heavenly mouth.

Charlie blinked a few times and then, rather in a daze, turned back to the keys and very slowly began to plunk out _Heart and Soul_ again.  But this time, it was fortified by the girl next to her who began to play the other half of the song; the part that Charlie’s left hand should have been playing.  It sounded so good, with that girl filling up the empty spaces in between her notes that Charlie almost forgot that she couldn’t actually play the piano.  She felt bolstered and, well, happy. A giant smile split her face as Charlie watched the dexterous hands moving along side of her own. The mystery woman had her nails painted a deep, shocking pink.  The contrast of the pink against her brown skin was so satisfying to watch that Charlie felt hypnotized as they continued to play through the song.

But then, someone must have called to her—Charlie couldn’t tell with the mass of people flowing in and out of the propped open doors of the dormitory.  She stopped playing abruptly and looked past Charlie for a just a second before she met her eyes and said apologetically, “I have to be off.”

Then she was gone.  Charlie didn’t even have a chance to ask the girl for her name. And just as quickly as the strange girl had made the world fill up, it emptied again with her absence. And Charlie went back to her lonely state of being. 

She figured she might as well unpack, so she headed into the stairwell and climbed up the four flights of stairs to the door that opened on the landing where her room was located. 

Craft Hall was made up of six suite-style dormitories that were designed to include a living room area that Charlie’s Residential Advisor had called the suite when she had introduced herself.  The lower level door opened into the suite, a big room that had a couch and various tables and chairs.  On one side of this room was a large, two-story window that overlooked the lawn outside.  On the other side was a staircase that led up to a balcony that overlooked the suite.  On either side of the stairs, both upstairs and downstairs, were the rooms – two double rooms in all four of the corners—and a bathroom in each corner as well. Charlie’s room was in the upper left hand corner, were there was also another door that opened onto the main stairwell.  Charlie liked the suite set up.  She thought it made the dorms seem homier and less institutionalized. 

When she and some frat boys who’d been stationed outside to help students move in had carried her boxes in a couple hours ago, Charlie’s roommate hadn’t shown up yet.  Charlie had picked the side of the room that didn’t have a window because she figured she’d be able to sleep in longer in the mornings if the sun wasn’t glaring in on her face.  Now, however, the window side of the room was filled up with boxes and Charlie felt excitement bubbling up in her as she walked in the room.

Charlie already knew her roommate’s name was Eden Renmark. They’d sent each other brief emails of greeting once Vallance had informed them of their room assignments. Eden had seemed oddly formal in her email but Charlie was anxious to meet her nonetheless.

She bounded into the room and found a thin, dark skinned girl putting sheets on the bed.  “Hi!” Charlie exclaimed. 

The girl jumped a bit, dropped the sheet she was holding, and turned around with a shy smile on her face.  “Oh, hey,” she responded timidly. 

“I’m Charlie,” Charlie stated and thrust her hand out boldly, though she was quite taken aback by how young her roommate looked.

“Nice to meet you,” the girl said, shaking her hand.

Charlie couldn’t help herself.  “Are you like one of those baby geniuses that skipped like 5 grades?  Because you look super young.  Like holy crap,” she burst out. 

The girl just grinned and giggled at her before glancing at the doorway to someone who had just walked in.  “Eden, you’re roommate thinks I’m you,” she said, still laughing.  “I’m going to go help Mom.  She said to meet her outside when you got back.”  Without further ado, the girl skipped out past Charlie, who was blushing hard with a hand smacked to her forehead. 

Stupid! That was Eden sister, probably. Then she spun on the spot to introduce herself to her real roommate.  All that came out, though, was, “Holy shit!”

It was that beautiful stranger from the lobby who had briefly filled her up with music.   Charlie’s heart began hammering so fast in her chest it made her slightly nauseated. Those gorgeous brown eyes were glaring at her. Wait.  Glaring?

“Please don’t curse at me,” Eden snapped. “I’m a lady.”

“Seriously?” Charlie chided. 

“You’re Charlotte,” Eden stated.

Charlie grabbed her hat off her head and in one smooth movement, grandly swept it through the air and across her body with her arm extended and sank into a deep bow. 

“My lady,” she said, smirking up at Eden, one eyebrow cocked, challenging her new roommate not to be charmed by her.

Eden surveyed her like that queen that Charlie could already tell she was, and then, cool as anything, said, “You may rise,” and marched past her, further into the room. 

Charlie straightened back up and moved over to her side of the room.  She glanced toward Eden and was pleased to see that the other girl was failing to suppress a grin.

“So,” Eden said, “why exactly did you curse at me just now?”

“Because,” Charlie said, keeping her tone neutral as possible, “you surprised me.  I wasn’t expecting to have the most beautiful girl on campus as my roommate.”

Eden had stopped in the middle of opening one of her boxes to eye Charlie curiously. 

“Are you teasing me? That’s not very nice,” Eden said eventually, turning back to the box of books she was unloading.

“Who said I was joking?” Charlie retorted, making sure to keep her tone as blasé as possible.  She didn’t want to sound as nervous or excited as she felt.

Eden decided to ignore her.  She was clearly crazy.  What kind of a person, even if they do think their roommate is beautiful, tell them so without so much as a hello?  She also decided to ignore the fact that this lanky girl with a snapback was making her heart jackhammer in her chest and her skin erupt in goosebumps despite the heat of September in central Illinois.

“So, Charlotte,” Eden began again.

“It’s Charlie, actually.”

“Alright then.  Charlie,” Eden tried again.  “What do you do? What will you be majoring in?”

“Uh…” Charlie stuttered.  “I…I dunno.  I thought we didn’t have to decide on a major until later.”

“Do you do anything?” Eden questioned again, now piling some of her clothes neatly into her dresser drawers. 

“I play basketball,” Charlie offered. “I’m on the school’s team.”

“Do you do theatre? Or some kind of music?” Eden asked her hopefully.

“Uh, no,” Charlie laughed.  “Not really my thing.”

“Really?” Eden asked, sure Charlie was pulling her leg now.

“Really.  Why do you sound so skeptical?”

“You just really shone earlier when we were playing the piano.”

“I shone?” Charlie asked, moving across the room toward Eden and stopping directly in front of her. 

Eden’s breath hitched slightly having her personal space so thoroughly invaded by this brunette heathen who smelled like vanilla.

Charlie slowly reached her hand out and Eden slowly leaned away from that hand, though she was effectively trapped with her legs pressed back against the bed frame.  She was starting to sweat under Charlie’s intense stare. 

Finally, Charlie trapped on of the big coils of curly hair hanging just to the left of Eden’s cheek and pulled it out until it was stretched completely straight, but not hard enough that it hurt or was actually pulling.  She extended it just enough so that when she let it go it bounced back into place dramatically.

“ _Boing_ ,” Charlie whispered.  “I like your hair. And I have personal space issues. Just warning you.”

“Thank you?” Eden responded, a slight quaver in her normally steady tone. 

And then Charlie winked at her and those green eyes (emerald, Eden thought), they made her mouth go dry.  Eden dismissed all the weird things happening in her body as nerves over starting college and being apart from her family for the first time in her life.  And this girl, Charlotte, being so brazen.  All these new things were making her feel off kilter, she decided.

* * *

 

They talked for the next 20 minutes, Charlie back on her side of the room, telling Eden about all the nannies she’d driven away as a little kid.  Eden telling Charlie that she was like all seven of the Von Trapp children all by herself. Charlie wondering who the fuck these awesome kids were until Eden broke out into _Doe a Deer._ Charlie falling silent for the first time since she entered the room because Eden’s voice sounded like the auditory embodiment of honey dripping over a warm biscuit and it was all making her mouth water. 

That was when Nel came in, one eyebrow cocked in exasperation at her daughter, who was mid-refrain. 

“You know, she will stop if you ask her,” the heavyset black woman told Charlie, chuckling in a sweet raspy voice. 

“Oh no, ma’am,” Charlie said, standing up from her bed where she’d sat down to listen.  “It was…great,” she gushed sincerely. 

“I think you may have found your perfect roommate, Eden,” Nel, who had commanded the room from the moment she stepped foot in it, said.

“I’m still deciding,” Eden quipped.

“Where are your manners, young lady?” Nel said, her voice turning stern.  “Introduce us all.” She gestured around to the young man and the girl that Charlie had previously mistook for Eden. 

“My apologies,” Eden said immediately. “Charlotte,” she announced loudly, “this is my mother, Nel; my brother, Gabriel; and my sister, Esther. Family,” she turned to face the trio, “this is my roommate, Charlotte Cole.”

Charlie had embarrassed her parents enough to know what good manners were, so she stepped forward and offered her hand to each of them in turn and muttered a “nice to meet you,” to them all. 

“Is your family here, Charlotte?” Nel asked warmly. “I’d love to meet your folks.”

“Oh, no,” Charlie shrugged.  “My mom just dropped me off.  I’m the youngest of seven, so this is kind of old news for them. They’re probably glad to be rid of me.  My father always tells me what a holy terror I am.”

Charlie froze, deer in the headlights, at the sympathetic look Nel was giving her.  She’d said too much.  She hadn’t meant to reveal so much personal information to these strangers.  She’d meant to act cool and aloof and unaffected by her lack of happy family on move-in day.  Charlie tried to chuckle, to laugh it off, but she could tell that even if Eden’s brother and sister were buying it, Nel sure as hell wasn’t. She could see the truth of everything Charlie had just said.  It was that whole, a mother always knows thing, Charlie thought. 

Luckily, Nel also seemed to pick up on how vulnerable Charlie was now feeling, and seemed to decide not to push it. Charlie sighed in relief as Nel turned her attention to a plastic bag she was holding and pulled out a bright yellow Vallance t-shirt. 

“We picked out a shirt for you, baby,” Nel said turning to her daughter again. 

“Mom! That wasn’t necessary,” Eden smiled. “Thank you!”

“Do you like it?” Esther piped up, stepping closer to her sister.  “It’s your favorite color.”

“Put it on!” Gabriel told her, his smile warm and broad.  “We’ve got to take a family picture.”

Charlie thought Gabriel look about 14 or 15. His arms seemed like they were just a bit too big for his body, but his face was still soft and smooth and free of hair.   She got a very good-natured vibe off of the boy.  Esther was slightly younger, maybe 12 or 13, Charlie guessed, and she seemed to be more shy and soft-spoken than either or her siblings.

Eden slipped the shirt on over her head and tugged it down over the shirt she was already wearing.  Then she did a little twirl to show it off for everyone.

“Do you mind?” Gabriel asked, walking up to Charlie and holding out a camera to her.

“Oh yeah, sure!” Charlie replied, eager to help. “Everybody get together…uh, how about between the desks?”

The little family shuffled around for a moment, both of Eden’s siblings vying for a place beside her.  It was obvious how much they adored her and it was probably becoming a reality to them that she wasn’t going to be around much anymore, Charlie thought.  She smiled sadly at the moment as the thought crossed her mind, remembering all the times she’d had to adjust to another empty room at home.

“Alright, say cheese!” Charlie said and snapped a few pictures.  They were nice, but Charlie always preferred candids; they were just so much more genuine. “Okay, now pretend someone farted!” she shouted and as the Renmark family all burst out laughing, Charlie snapped away.  Perfect, she thought.

“Can I give Charlotte her present now?” Esther asked, turning to her mother.

“Of course, baby.  Go ahead,” Nel said, handing her youngest the plastic sack.

Esther moved over to where Charlie, wondering why in the hell these people would have bought her something, was standing and extracted a flat brimmed Vallance baseball hat. 

“I noticed you liked hats earlier,” the girl said to her shyly.  “So we all picked this one out for you.” 

“It was definitely the coolest one they had at the bookstore,” Gabriel stated. 

“Oh wow!” Charlie said, quickly swapping her Bulls hat for the purple Vallance one Esther had just handed her.  “Thanks!  Thank you!” She looked over at Nel especially who seemed pleased with Charlie’s positive reaction.  “You were right,” she said to Esther in particular, “I do like hats. And I love this one!” Esther beamed at her. 

“Okay, how about a couple of you and Eden?” Gabriel suggested then, taking the camera back from her and pushing Charlie over to where Eden was waiting.  “First college roommate is a big deal, right?”

Charlie moved over and slung an arm around Eden’s shoulders, smiling when the other girl moved her own arm around Charlie’s waist, albeit a little more stiffly.  Gabriel instructed them to smile.  After a few clicks of the camera, Charlie lowered her voice and leaned into Eden’s ear.

“I really did fart,” she whispered, holding back a laugh.  She hadn’t actually farted, but she wanted to get a reaction from Eden and she wasn’t disappointed.

Eden erupted in something between a laugh, a scoff, and retch, pushing back on Charlie’s chest with an open palm while Charlie just roared with laughter, her head thrown back. 

“Oh, you are gross!” Eden yelled. 

Charlie just shrugged. 

“It’s going to be an interesting year,” Eden remarked.

“I promise, you’ll never be bored,” Charlie grinned, marking an X over her heart. 

Eden just rolled her eyes. 

* * *

 

The afternoon went by quickly and in a highly enjoyable atmosphere as the Renmarks helped the new roommates unpack and decorate their room.  They worked steadily, except for the short break Eden and Charlie had to take for the first suite meeting, where they formally met their RA and the other girls who lived in Craft 6.

Charlie talked basketball with Gabriel as they boy helped her tack up her Michael Jordan posters.  She joked with him about how tall he thought he was going to get and how she could probably out shoot him.  He seemed eager to play one-on-one with her sometime when they visited Eden. 

After Charlie had set up her computer, in a move that surprised the rest of the family, she turned on One Direction and spent a good hour speaking directly to Esther, who was quite taken with Charlie, as the two engaged in a spirited discussion about which member of the group was the cutest and how many times Charlie had seen them in concert. 

Nel watched Charlie with a discerning eye as the older girl had her youngest daughter in stitches and her other two children enraptured with her boisterous charm, noting how starved for attention Charlie seemed, but also how genuinely sweet she was. 

Finally, around 6:30, Nel announced to the group of youngsters, “Why don’t we go find someplace to have dinner?”

Her children all murmured their assent happily and Eden attempted to locate her keys as they all moved to the door.

“You guys have fun,” Charlie said, her smile dimming a bit as she watched them leave the room. 

“Oh, do you have other plans?” Nel asked her.

“Well, no,” Charlie said apologetically, not daring to hope that she was invited.  “I just…I don’t want to butt in.” 

“I’m sure we’d all love it if you’d join us, Charlotte,” Nel told her evenly. 

Charlotte jumped off her bed and bounded forward, but then faltered when she caught sight of herself in the mirror in between the closet doors. 

“Should I change?” she asked nervously, her own mother’s words echoing in her head about trying harder.  She quickly ripped the hat off her head and tried to tame her long brown locks by running her fingers through them.

Nel moved to stand directly in front of Charlie and pulled her new hat from her hands.  “Charlotte, are you comfortable?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am, very comfortable, but –“

“Then you’re perfect,” Nel cut her off with finality, placing the hat back on the girl’s head. 

Charlie beamed and tried very hard to blink back the tears that were brimming in her eyes. 

* * *

 

Once outside, they all loaded into the Renmark’s car and drove around Solomon until Esther spotted a hole in the wall Italian place and declared her need for spaghetti. 

It was a quaint, little place, The Gondola, and it was red everywhere—red walls, red tablecloths, and red lamp coverings that cast a red glow over the entire dining room.  Charlie decided she liked it immediately and that if she ever needed to take a date somewhere, she’d bring them here. 

They were sat quickly in a circular booth in the corner by the restaurant’s front window and a young man approached them soon after, laden with menus and cutlery, which he placed on the table in front of each of them while he spoke. 

“Good evening, my name is Vince.  I’ll be your best friend and spaghetti man this evening.”

Esther laughed at him and he winked at her before continuing.  “Can I get you folks started with some drinks?”

They each placed their orders and he hurried away to collect their requests while they all picked out an entrée from the menu. He returned soon, skillfully holding three glasses in each hand and depositing them accordingly.

“Is everyone ready to order?”

“We were thinking of sharing some garlic bread as an appetizer,” Nel mentioned.  “How is it here?”

“I would sell my soul for a loaf of it,” Vince chuckled.  “It’s divine.”

“Well alright then,” Nel laughed.  “We’ll start with that.”

As everyone ordered, Charlie watched Vince. He was very charming and nice, probably only a year or two older than she was; however, while his clothes were clean, Charlie noticed, they were very worn.  And his shoes looked like they were barely holding together, wrapped up in what appeared to be electrical tape. 

“And for you?” Vince asked, smiling, turning to Charlie, who was the last to order. 

“I’ll have the lasagna, please,” Charlie said, then, curiosity over taking her, asked, “Do you go to Vallance?”

“Yeah, yeah, I do,” he said, his smiling widening. “You, too?”

“Yeah!  Eden and I,” Charlie gestured to the girl sitting opposite her who was watching Charlie closely, “we just moved in to the freshman dorms today.”

“Nice! You guys are going to love it. Vallance is a great school,” Vince told her. 

“Are you working your way through?” Charlie asked. “If you don’t mind me asking. I just can’t imagine working and doing school full time.  It must be killer.”

“It’s rough sometimes,” Vince agreed. “I try to save up as much as I can over the summer so I can just do part time when classes start up. But I’ve got scholarships and grants.  It could be worse. Beginning of the term is always hardest, though.  I’m a science major and the text books, well, they might as well be made of pure gold with what they charge for them.”

Charlie grimaced.  “Sounds rough.  I haven’t bought my books yet.  Maybe we’ll see you around campus and we can compare receipts?” Charlie grinned at him then. 

“Totally,” Vince laughed.  “Hey, my frat, Sigma Chi, we’re having a party this weekend before classes start next week.  I have to work that night, Friday, but you two should come. I’ll be heading over as soon as my shift ends.”

“Thanks,” Charlie said, “we’ll check it out.”

He smiled broadly and headed back to the kitchen to put their orders in.  When Charlie returned her attention to the table, she was taken aback by how intensely Eden was staring at her.  She couldn’t help but feel like she was being studied. 

“See something you like?” Charlie asked, attempting to deflect the way Eden was taking her in and making her feel flustered.

“You’re good,” Eden said, eyes still zoned in on her target, “with people.  You got us a party invite.”

“I’m a smooth talker.  It’s not exactly hard.”

“You’d be a good actress,” Eden commented.

“Hardly.”

“No, you would.  You have _it.”_

“Have what?” Charlie asked. 

“ _It,_ ” Eden replied, a fire seeming to spark just behind her eyes. “You should come with me on Thursday to the Theatre Open House.”

“Okay,” Charlie replied, surprising herself a little. She hadn’t meant to agree so easily. 

Charlie wasn’t sure what _it_ was, but if Eden thought she had it…Charlie cleared her throat and took a drink of her water, mentally shaking herself.  It’s not a good idea to wade into murky waters with your roommate, she told herself, no matter how incredibly beautiful she may be.

The meal went by in a rush of conversation. Nel asked Charlie about what she wanted to study and her interests.  They talked about possible career paths and majors she might enjoy. Somehow, by the end of it, Charlotte had promised to send Nel her grades twice a trimester by email and was considering a possible future in chiropractic medicine. Before she realized what had happened, Nel had paid for dinner and they were getting ready to leave the restaurant again. 

“Wait…you didn’t have to buy my dinner,” Charlie started, reaching for her pocket, but faded out at the look Nel was giving her. “Thank you very much. It was delicious,” she corrected herself instead. 

“Save your money for something more important,” Nel told her with a warm pat on the back.  “Mothers like feeding people.”

As they headed to the door, Vince waved to them from the table and said, “See you on Friday!”  Charlie’s gaze fell to his shoes again and she remembered what he’d told her about his textbooks. 

“I’ll be out in just a minute,” Charlie told Nel and Eden who were both waiting for her at the door.  “I just wanted to say good bye to Vince.”

Charlie hurried back over to the waiter. “Were you serious, earlier, about your books?” she asked without pretense. 

“Well, yeah.  They can be pretty steep depending on what classes you’re taking,” he told her, assuming she was nervous about how much her own would cost.

“Okay,” Charlie said, pulling the wad of cash from her pocket that her mother had handed her earlier that morning.

“Woah, what are you doing?” Vince said, holding an apprehensive hand out in front of him. 

“How much will your books be?” Charlie asked, ignoring his question. 

“Like $300,” he admitted, though his eyes still looked wary and a little defensive. “But it’s fine.  I’ve got it handled.”

“Look, you were a really great waiter tonight. I’m allowed to tip you,” Charlie explained, peeling three $100 bills from the wad in her hand. 

“I can’t take that,” Vince said, shaking his head adamantly. 

“Give me your phone,” Charlie said, changing tactics when it was clear he wasn’t going to just take the money from her.

He handed it over, too shocked to argue, and Charlie put her number in and then send a text to herself.  “There, now I have your number and you have mine. One of these days I’ll call you up and you can bring me a bottle of wine or something, okay?  We’ll call it even.”

He still shook his head at her.  “You have to need this for something,” he said, pointing at the money she was trying to hand him. 

“That’s the thing.  I _don’t_. My parents are like, stupid rich. I just want to help you.  And if you know anyone else that really needs help buying their books, give them my number okay?  I’m serious. But don’t just tell anyone about this.  I don’t need people hitting me up for money for stupid shit.  Just for books, okay?”

Vince just laughed, disbelief spreading across his features.  For some reason, Charlie asking him to give her number to others who needed help buying their own books was what finally convinced him this wasn’t some weird set up or blackmail for something later. 

“Alright,” he said finally, gingerly accepting the money.  “Thank you. This is…”

“I’ll see you Friday!” Charlie exclaimed before he could say anything else, a wide smile on her face, and hurried out to the car.

* * *

 

Nel dropped Charlie and Eden back at their dorm for the night, promising to be back the next morning to say good bye to them both before she, Gabriel, and Esther headed back to New York.

“Just us now, huh, Roomie?” Charlie said and bumped her shoulder into Eden’s as they walked up to their building. The night air was a cool relief after the heat of the day and the bustle of moving. 

“It’s a little strange,” Eden remarked.

“Well, you’re a little strange.”

Eden heaved a sigh.  “Charlotte.”

“What? You are.  You sing more than most people.  It’s okay.  Just accept it.  Are you going to unlock the door? Cuz I didn’t bring my keys.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Eden said and moved forward, unlocked the door, and they both walked into the lobby, the air conditioner hitting them like a brick wall and making them shiver a bit. “And I just meant, I haven’t ever been away from my family before.  It’s strange to be on my own.”

“Hey, you’ve got me now!” Charlie said, shooting Eden what she thought was a winning grin. 

“Yes, and I have the distinct impression I’m not going to get a moment’s peace now that I have you.”

“Does that mean you don’t like me?” Charlie asked as they slowly ascended the stairs together. 

“I never said that,” Eden replied flippantly, smirking.

Charlie side-eyed her new roommate as Eden unlocked the door to their room unable to stop herself from wondering if this gorgeous creature could possibly be flirting with her.  No, she told herself.  Not possible.  It was better not to go there. 

* * *

 

Eden wasn’t sure what to think of Charlie. She seemed like she had maybe been raised by wolves.  But like, super charming, sexy wolves.  She was just so…loose.  That was the only word Eden could come up with for her new roommate.  They way she moved was so easy and flowing.  And the way she spoke was so flippant and natural.  The way she’d talked with that waiter, like they were old friends, had impressed her. 

Eden could perform.  She could act and she was good at it.  She could march out onto a stage in front of hundreds of people and sing a song.  But to make real conversation with some that wasn’t scripted? That was a gift, too. Charlie had that star quality Eden had never had.  She just oozed likability.  Charlie was charming and cocky and brash and so unlike anyone Eden had ever encountered.

When they got back to the room, Eden decided she needed to collect herself and be alone for a little while, so she told Charlie she was going for a shower.  The bathrooms were….interesting, Eden decided.  They were very basic – a sink, toilet, shower, and a few empty shelves.  The lighting was terrible and dim and Eden wondered if anyone would mind if she stuck a lamp in the corner by the sink. There was also no lock on the door, which was sort of alarming.  Weren’t all bathrooms supposed to have locks?  And there was this…curtain you could pull in front of the alcove that the toilet sat in.  Why would they need a curtain if the bathroom was a single? The thought of needing to use that curtain made Eden extremely uneasy.  How could someone do their…business…if someone else was right on the other side of that curtain?  Impossible.

She set the thoughts aside.  It was too much to handle on night one of her college life.  Eden wished, as she skittishly stripped down and climbed into the shower, that she could be as cool and unaffected as Charlie seemed.  She was taking this completely new life in her stride. Eden felt completely unbalanced and anxious.  And alone.

Nel was a wonderful mother—loving, supportive, kind, funny.  But she was also strict, demanding, and overbearing at times.  She had rules about everything and Eden had decided early on in her adolescence that life was just a lot easier and more enjoyable when she followed the rules and avoided her mother’s wrath and punishments.

So, Eden got good grades.  She graduated high school with a 3.8 GPA. She attended church every Sunday morning and Wednesday evening and sang in the church choir. When she went out with her friends as she got older, she always told Nel exactly where she was going and who she’d be with.  And she _never ever_ drank or did drugs.  She didn’t even want to imagine the world of trouble she would have been in if Nel had ever caught her doing either.

But now, she was alone at college.  No rules to abide by.  No curfew, no chores, no…anything.  She could drink alcohol if she wanted.  She could smoke pot.  She could get a tattoo.  She could study when she wanted.  And eat what she wanted and when she pleased.  It was all her’s now and it was all her’s to screw up. She was free to discover who Eden, free from parental pressures, really was.  And all that freedom, well, it was rather a lot. It was almost too much.

Rather than succumb to the panic attack threatening to overtake her as she showered, Eden decided to sing instead. It always had a rather bolstering effect on her.  She started with _I Whistle a Happy Tune_ from _The King and I_ because it was clearly the perfect song to sing at this exact moment in her life. After that she sang _Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing_ and _The Storm is Passing Over._ The she finished it off with _Breakaway_ by Kelly Clarkson.

She felt a great deal better when she was done so she got out of the shower, dried off, and put on her pajamas before heading back into she and Charlie’s room.  As soon as she opened the door and walked in, though, she froze. 

It looked like a bomb had gone off, but only on Charlie’s side of the room.  The sheets were ripped off the bed, all the drawers of the desk were pulled open and the contents inside strewn across the surface of the desk or the floor. The dresser looked like it had gotten the same treatment and what appeared to be every item of clothing inside was dumped out onto the unmade bed. Charlie herself was, from what Eden could tell from the incoherent mumbling and items being tossed out, on her side of the closet, continuing to demolish all the unpacking and organizing they’d accomplished that afternoon. 

“Charlie! What in the world?” Eden yelled, quickly closing the door behind her.  She moved to the far side of the room and pulled the closet door open wider, ducking just in time as a Charlie sent a DVD ( _The Princess Bride,_ nice taste,Eden thought) over her shoulder. 

“Where is he?!” Charlie mumbled, breathing in ragged, choking gulps.

“Charlotte!” Eden said again. 

This time, Charlie seemed to hear her and snap out of it slightly.  She turned around and Eden could see some tear streaks down her red face.  Her eyes looked panicked and scared.

Eden did the only thing she could think to do; she moved forward and wrapped her arms around Charlie in a giant bear hug. And then she held her until Charlie’s breathing finally evened out and she seemed to have calmed down a little. Eden released her after that and used the sleeve of her pajama top to wipe the tears off of Charlie’s cheeks.

“Charlie, please tell me what’s wrong so I can help you,” Eden requested calmly.

Charlie just shook her head from side to side violently. 

“Charlie, did you lose something?” Eden tried. It wasn’t hard to gather that much from the state of the torn apart room.

Charlie wouldn’t meet her eyes, but nodded, stiltedly, and a fresh tear slipped out of one of her green eyes. 

“If you tell me what it is,” Eden explained gently, “I can help you find it.”

“It’s too embarrassing,” Charlie said quietly. “I can’t tell you.  You’ll make fun of me.”

Eden had to admit, Charlotte Cole was intriguing. If anything, this unexpected show of vulnerability only made her more likeable.  How did she do it?  Suddenly, Eden had an idea. 

“Stay here,” she instructed, and hurried over to her side of the room, where she grabbed a book off her desk and then returned to where Charlie was looking completely wrecked. 

“Here, hold this,” Eden said and thrust the book into Charlie’s hands, who held it awkwardly with a confused look.

“What is this?” she sniffed, confused by the lack of a title on the cover.

“It’s the Bible,” Eden stated as if it was obvious.

“Why do you have a Bible?” Charlie asked, genuinely curious. 

“To read it,” Eden stated with one eyebrow raised, not sure if Charlie was teasing her now. 

“Oh.  I didn’t know people did that.  Except for like, priests and stuff,” Charlie mused while she rubbed her eyes.

“Yes, they do,” Eden said, now a little more sure that Charlie wasn’t poking fun. 

“So…” Charlie said, looking at her now, clearing asking why Eden had just shoved a Bible into her hands.

“Oh! Right,” Eden said, snapping back to the task at hand.  She placed her left hand palm down on the Bible and her right hand over her heart. Then, staring Charlie directly in the eyes, with the utmost seriousness she could muster, said, “I, Eden Cecelia Renmark, do solemnly swear, under penalty of the law, to never ever, _ever ever_ —“ Charlie’s lip quirked up a little at that,”—make fun of Charlotte Cole for whatever it is she is about to reveal to me and will forever, until my death, not reveal her secret, so help me God.”

Charlie had a very watery smile on now, and she let out a long sigh.  “I have bear,” she mumbled, almost inaudibly. 

Eden actually felt her heart melt with fondness for the girl standing in front of her.  She only barely managed not to let the awwwwwww slip out of her mouth that was echoing around in her brain. 

“I see,” she replied instead.  “And what is his name?”

Charlie chewed on her lip nervously for a moment before she decided to just lay it all out there. “Fancy,” she revealed. “He’s uh, purple and he has a bow tie.”

“He sounds extremely fancy,” Eden commented with such conviction that Charlie actually chuckled a little bit.

“I’ve had him since I was 3,” Charlie divulged.

“And if he is lost, then your world as you know it will end?” Eden questioned.

“Well…yeah!” Charlie said, looking rather desperate.

In a move that stunned Charlie into silence, Eden took Charlie’s face in both of her hands.  It was so gentle and reassuring that Charlie’s could actually feel a little of the tension leave her body.  Eden was looking at her with such warmth she thought it might make her cry even more.  Luckily, Eden didn’t try to prolong the moment.  It was over as quickly as it began and Eden’s hands were back at her sides.

“Now,” Eden snapped, pulling them both out of their closet reverie. “Where exactly did you pack Fancy?”

“In my backpack,” Charlie said, sure of that much.

“So you’re entire backpack is missing?”

“Yeah, but…Fancy is the only thing in it that matters. Everything else is just stupid stuff.”

“I see,” Eden nodded gravely.  “And what does the backpack in question look like?”

“Um, it’s grey with these like thick zigzag stripes on it that are red and orange and yellow.”

Eden’s eyebrows creased above her nose as she thought. “Charlie, I really don’t remember seeing that bag while we were unpacking this afternoon.”

“Neither do I,” Charlie whimpered, visibly deflating.

“Listen, why don’t you call your mom? Maybe you left it in the car?”

“We drove separately, so probably not. And I remember taking my backpack out of the car, but after that…”

“You never know. She might have grabbed it by accident. Just call her and check. I’ll go look in the suite and see if it ended up out there somehow,” Eden told her steadily. 

“Yeah, okay,” Charlie replied, pulling her phone out of her jeans pocket, but she sounded pretty hopeless.

Eden grabbed her keys off her desk. If she didn’t find the bag in the suite, she thought she might check the lobby. She headed out into the hallway and turned left, away from the bathroom, and trotted along the balcony that ran between the upstairs rooms until she reached the top of the staircase at the other end. 

The suite was full of the noise of the girls all settling in on their first night.  Eden could hear music playing, laughter, and a slew of chatter issuing from the open doors of the bedrooms.  Down the stairs in the suite area, Eden found a few of the girls had set up a TV and DVD player up and were arranging the very basic school-issued furniture into some semblance of a living room.  She glanced around the area, looking for Charlie’s bag, but didn’t see it anywhere.  She took just a moment to admire the view of campus that the enormous windows in the suite afforded.  She could see the student union on the far side of the large lawn that stretched away from Craft Hall and then, in the distance, the Lincoln Performing Arts Center. The campus looked downright picturesque with the lampposts just turning on and a few students milling about in the warm September night.  In the back of her mind, though, Eden felt she couldn’t enjoy any of it when Charlie was so upset. 

“Ladies,” Eden said, addressing the girls who were just about to start a movie, “sorry to interrupt, but my roommate lost her backpack.  Have any of you seen a grey one with zigzag stripes on it?”

Most of the girls shook their heads, but one of them said, “You know, I saw one that looked kind of like that down in the lobby.” Eden thought she remembered the girl introducing herself as Bridget at the suite meeting.

“Really?  Oh, thank you!” Eden said, hope flaring in her chest as she ran out into the stairwell barefoot.  She hurried down the three flights of deserted staircase, the linoleum slightly chilly on her feet, and burst out into the lobby, quickly beginning to search among the myriad of couches and chairs scattered across the lobby.

Finally, she spotted it, shoved beneath one of the couches that sat under a row of windows.  Eden’s heart sped up.  It looked like someone had rifled through it and then shoved the evidence out of sight.  She sent up a little prayer that whoever had pilfered the bag had found no interest in the teddy bear.

Eden dropped to her knees and pulled the bag from underneath the couch.  She tore it open and at first all she could see were some ruffled magazines—and old Rolling Stone issue and a copy of O magazine.  Eden quirked her eyebrow at this.  Charlie didn’t seem like an Oprah fan…but that was neither here nor there.  She pulled the magazines out and tossed them aside, then looked back into the bag.  There at the very bottom of the bag was a dingy, well-loved, faintly purple bear, staring back at her.  And she could see a little bow tie sewn just beneath his chin. She squealed with happiness as she extracted him from the depths of the bag. 

“Fancy! Oh thank goodness,” Eden said, giving the bear a squeeze and noticing a warm vanilla smell that emanated from his little, stuffed body.  “Your mother was very worried about you!” she scolded him as she stood up and gathered Charlie’s backpack and magazines together before heading back upstairs.

On the way up, Eden decided that going back to someone not-empty-handed was one of her top five favorite feelings.  She immediately put Professional Finder on her list of imaginary jobs to pursue if she ever won the lottery. 

When Eden walked back into their room, Charlie was sitting on her bed with her head cradled in her hands.  As soon as she heard the door open, though, her head snapped up and her eyes fell on the bear Eden was holding reverently in her arms. She flung herself off the bed and ran over to Eden. 

Eden was expecting Charlie to grab Fancy, but she grabbed Eden around the middle instead and hoisted her in the air, spinning her around wildly before setting her back down, both girls laughing loudly. Only then did Charlie snatch the bear out of Eden’s arms. 

“Fancy, you suave bastard!” she shouted. “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Eden laughed joyfully watching Charlie shove her face into the stuffed bear and hum contentedly.  “So he’s suave, huh?” Eden giggled.

“Duh! Look at this motherfucker,” Charlie boasted, squeezing Fancy tightly. 

Eden didn’t want to put a damper on this joyous reunion, but she also didn’t want to withhold anything from her roommate either. “Charlie,” she said, forcing the smile off her face, though it was difficult with how with how downright cute Charlie was being now that she had her bear back.  “I’m sorry to have to tell you this but I believe you’ve been robbed. Your bag looked as if it had been ransacked.  It was stuffed beneath one of the couches in the lobby.

“Oh, shit,” Charlie said, moving toward Eden who was offering up her backpack.  Charlie took it, never once setting Fancy down, and pulled the bag open to see all she had lost.  “Yep,” she said after digging through the bag.  “My iPod is gone. And my headphones. And my Nintendo DS.  Looks like all that’s left are my magazines.”

“I’m so sorry,” Eden told her.  “That’s not a very nice way to start your college career.”

“Oh well,” Charlotte shrugged, a grin lighting up her face. “I’ve still got Fancy.  That’s all that really matters.”

Eden just stared at her, much like she had in the restaurant earlier, in something akin to wonder.  Charlie was so much more complicated than she had assumed when they’d met that afternoon. There was something pretty incredible brewing underneath that smarmy exterior.  She was just about say _something,_ though she didn’t know quite what, when Charlie’s upset tone interrupted her.

“No! Damnit!” Charlie huffed, tossing her magazines onto her desk. 

“What?” Eden asked, concerned.

“Those fuckers took my Playboy!”

“You can’t be serious…” Eden replied, sure Charlie was kidding now.

“Nope!” Charlie fumed.  “I mean, what kind of heartless asshole steals another girl’s porn?”  Charlie threw her hands up like the mere thought was blasphemous. 

“You just buy it for the articles, right?” Eden questioned. She thought she’d just uncovered the true, secret, sensitive underbelly of her roommate.  Something here wasn’t adding up.  How could a girl who still sleeps with a teddy bear own pornography? 

“Nah,” Charlie responded.  “I get it for the pictures of the naked women.”

“Charlotte!” Eden screamed, clearly scandalized at hearing Charlie state it so bluntly. 

“What?” Charlie asked, a sly grin gracing her features.

The mixture of feelings that spilled over inside of Eden, seeing Charlie grin at her in such a lecherous manner was too much to even consider sorting through, so Eden decided it would be best to ignore them instead; especially that peculiar flipping sensation that was happening low in her belly.  She wasn’t going to think about that at all.  It was probably the Chicken Parmesan she had a dinner, right?


	2. September, Freshman Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warning: an attempted rape occurs in this chapter.

 

The next few days were a flurry of various Welcome to College activities. They had suite meetings with the RA, a sophomore named Valerie, who Eden was pretty sure wanted to sleep with Charlie, but which Eden was sure would not be allowed. There were meetings with their academic advisors that included a dinner along with the rest of that faculty member's other new advisees; Eden's group went to a pizza parlor downtown while Charlie's advisor took their whole group back to her house for a homemade dinner. Then, there was a cleverly disguised comedy duo that Vallance brought in one evening for a performance. Just when everyone was laughing, they all realized there was actually a message about rape and consent happening and the show took a sharply serious turn after that. It was in the middle of that performance, when the guy up front was asking for volunteers from the audience that Eden realized she was going to have to become more comfortable talking about sex, because it seemed that was all anyone wanted to talk about around here. Eden spent the rest of the night sweating uncomfortably in her seat in the auditorium while Charlie grinned like a Cheshire cat beside her every time they caught each other's eye.

Eden and Charlie were able to attend most of the activities together and it wasn't long before Eden actually considered Charlie to be her friend and not just a sweet, horny mystery that lived with her to be unraveled.

Nearly once a day, however, Charlie would get a strange phone call that Eden could only hear Charlie's side of. They usually went something like this:

"Hello?"  
"Oh yeah, hey. Yep. This is she. You got my number from Vince?"  
"No, he was right," Charlie would say and laugh. "Well, I might be."  
"Of course. How much?"  
"Okay, yeah. That's totally fine."  
"I promise." More laughter.  
"Can we meet outside the student union in like 20 minutes?"  
"Yeah, I'll be the devilishly attractive brunette."  
"Mmmm, we'll see about that." More laughter that annoyed Eden.  
"See you there."

Whenever Charlie received one of these calls, Eden would pretend to be very busy color-coding something or perusing the course catalogue so she could plan out every trimester of her four years at Vallance. She generally always blew her cover immediately afterward, however, by suggesting they watch a movie or walk to the coffee shop downtown because, of course, Charlie would decline and say she had to meet someone. Then Eden would offer to go with her and Charlie would say no and disappear for an hour or so and Eden was pretty sure she was slightly drunk one time that she came back. It was driving Eden crazy. From what she could tell from eavesdropping, Charlie was either selling or buying something. She didn't want to jump to any conclusions, but really, it was all pretty suspicious. She'd only known Charlie for a few days and if she was honest with herself, Charlie did seem like the kind of person to be involved in illegal activities. It sort of scared Eden, but it also excited her just a little bit, too.

The fourth time it happened, Eden decided to causally happen to be going out as well.

"What are you doing?" Charlie asked, eyeing Eden suspiciously as the girl stood up and gathered some things into her bag.

"Oh, I was just heading out," Eden replied casually, throwing her messenger bag over her shoulder.

"You weren't heading out before I got that phone call," Charlie said frowning.

"Just because I did not voice my intentions to you doesn't mean I wasn't going out."

"Okay," Charlie said, drawing out the vowels of the word. "And just where the hell are you going?"

"To the mailroom!" Eden announced, happy that she'd already planned this far ahead in her scheme.

"We both checked our mail after breakfast this morning," Charlie shot back at her.

"Well, is it a crime to…I'm expecting a package, so I want to check again," Eden fumbled unconvincingly.

"Oh? Who from?" Charlie questioned, typing something quickly on her phone before she turned off the screen and slipped it into her pocket.

"From my aun…cle," Eden grimaced as her words got caught somewhere between "aunt" and "uncle." This wasn't going well.

"You're getting a package from your ankle?" Charlie asked smiling.

"No! From my aunt and uncle," Eden corrected herself, feeling extremely embarrassed. With the goal in mind of figuring out what Charlie was up to, though, she pressed on. "Shall we?"

Charlie grabbed her hat off her desk and tucked her wallet in her back pocket, all while snickering.

"Your keys?" Eden prompted as Charlie made to walk out the door.

"I always forget those damn things," Charlie said, slapping a hand to her forehead and doubling back to grab them off her dresser.

On the way down to the lobby, Eden made sure to walk behind Charlie on the stairs so she could see if she made a break for it. Charlie seemed completely at ease, however, and sauntered her way out of the building like she had not a care in the world. Once outside, though, just as Eden was heading left, Charlie veered right.

"Where are you going?" Eden piped up. "The student union is this way."

"Yeah, I know," Charlie smiled, pulling her hat off so she could run her fingers through her hair.

Eden was temporarily dazed by the action along with Charlie's smirk. "Well, isn't that where you're meeting your…friend?" she asked after mentally shaking herself.

"Change of plans," Charlie informed her. "We decided to meet elsewhere."

"Oh," Eden moped, stomping her foot in consternation before she could stop herself.

"Problem?" Charlie asked, beaming at Eden's little hissy fit. She was so adorable when she was mad.

"No, no," Eden recovered quickly. "It doesn't matter to me where you go or who you meet."

Charlie stepped toward Eden, just a little too close to be strictly friendly, and lowered her voice. "Maybe next time you should just try to follow me," she suggested. And then she winked.

Eden's voice stuttered slightly as she forced out a laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about," Eden stated stubbornly even though Charlie clearly knew what she had been doing the whole time.

"Sure," Charlie said, walking backwards away from her roommate, hands shoved into her pockets now. "And I don't think you're adorable when you stomp your foot like that."

Eden spun on her heel to leave, but suddenly remembered what they were supposed to be doing that evening. "Wait!" she called out.

"Yes, dear?" Charlie responded, turning back as well, eyebrows raised questioningly.

"The Theatre Open House—" Eden said.

"Is in an hour," Charlie finished for her. "I'll meet you outside the Lincoln Center then. An hour should be enough time to check your mail, shouldn't it?"

"Ass," Eden huffed, but she couldn't help smiling a little, too. "Don't be late!"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Charlie grinned.

As Charlie headed off campus to meet up with another one of Vince's frat brothers, a guy named Dave, she repeated the mantra she had adopted after she and Eden's first day together as roommates.

"I will not get a crush on my roommate, I will not get a crush on my roommate, I will not get a crush on my roommate," she murmured.

It had only been a week and the task was already proving difficult. If only she wasn't my  _roommate_ , Charlie thought for the thousandth time. It was only the fact that they lived together that was making Charlie's fledgling crush problematic. She knew that an awkward hook-up or failed dating attempt would make for an unbearable living situation so Charlie was doing everything she could to keep her hormones and feelings in check. It was proving very, very difficult.

A couple of blocks off campus was the Sigma Chi frat house. Like the other frat houses around campus, it was very large and kind of dirty looking. There was a mismatched assortment of furniture on the large porch, the grass was cut, but overgrown up against the house and other areas the lawn mower couldn't reach easily, and there were various flags hung in the windows instead of curtains. The house was white with a dingy brown coating but Charlie couldn't tell if that was from thinning paint or dirt. She'd been to the house once already, the day before last, to meet up with a guy who needed help buying a Psychology book. Now she was meeting Dave because he couldn't afford a Norton Anthology for his Intro to Lit class. As she approached the house she spotted an average sized guy dressed in board shorts and tank top sitting on the front steps. He waved to her when she turned up the front walk.

"Charlie?" he asked in a surprisingly gently tone.

"The one and only!" she said coming to a stop. "Actually, Charlie is kind of a common name, isn't it? I should come up with a better opening line."

The boy laughed appreciatively "Yeah, you probably should," Dave replied.

"So I was wondering if we ordered this book online, do you think you'll get it in time for class?" Charlie asked, cutting to the chase. "I really want to avoid the bookstore right now. My roommate is trying to spy on me."

"Uh, yeah, it's still four days before classes start and my lit class is Tuesday and Thursday. So…yeah, we could get it online," he said, working it out in his head that the book would most likely arrive in time.

"Cool, let's do that, then. You got a computer?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah, it's inside," Dave said and waved his hand over his shoulder motioning Charlie to follow him into the house.

Inside, Charlie was met with a chorus of greetings from the boys milling around the house. Although Vince had only told a select few of his brothers about Charlie's offer to help them buy text books, he'd made it known that Charlie was awesome and had helped him out with something and the entire fraternity had basically adopted her.

Any time one of them saw her on campus, even if Charlie hadn't personally met them yet, the Sigma Chi would greet her by name and usually offer her a high five. Charlie found it all very enjoyable. Her smile widened as she walked through the house with Dave, saying hello to everyone.

It didn't take long to order the book online and soon Charlie was telling Dave the same thing she had told the rest of the guys. "Just buy me a bottle of booze some time and we'll call it even, okay? I really just want to help. And if you know anyone else who can't afford a book or two give them my number."

The guys' reactions to Charlie's generosity had been pretty much the same every time; suspicion followed by hesitant acceptance and then a genuine outpouring of thankfulness and a few offers to pay her back. Charlie always brushed the offers off, though. Honestly, she just felt that no one should have to stress over something as stupid as their school books and she had more than enough money to go around, so why wouldn't she help?

* * *

Eden had been waiting outside of the Lincoln Center for ten minutes, sitting on a wooden bench just outside of the building's patio underneath a large oak tree. She had arrived 20 minutes early, though, so she couldn't be mad at Charlie for being late. Yet. She wished she could just go in by herself and start making friends and sniffing out whom her competition for the best parts might be, but she was too nervous. She wanted Charlie with her so that people could see that she wasn't alone and she already had a friend.

Eden hated the beginnings of things. She always loathed the first day of school. She always made friends eventually, but meeting them and not intimidating them or frightening them with her intensity and drive was difficult for her. She preferred the middle of things. In fact, she had decided after she had acted in her first play that her absolute most favorite time in the whole world was intermission. It was such an exhilarating time; you'd already finished the first half of the play, which meant the audience was hooked, and the whole theater was bustling and alive with chatter. But it was just the beginning. There was still a whole second half to perform. It was the perfect time. This, sitting on this bench and waiting for Charlie, was just the first act. She had to remember that. Her nerves were at a fever pitch. What she needed was a good stage manager to calm her down and make sure that the lights would come on at exactly the right moment. Eden wished that, like Charlie, she already had people calling out to her from across the campus or in the hallways at the student union, but that just wasn't her. She'd have to put some time in before that was a common occurrence in her new college life.

Eden was so nervous, fidgeting on the bench, that she didn't even notice Charlie approaching her from on the sidewalk that ran parallel to the building's front. Upon reaching the bench, Charlie sat down soundlessly beside her roommate, leaned back, and stretched her arms out behind them both along the back of the bench.

"Why are you so nervous?" Charlie asked quietly once she was settled. She expected Eden to be startled by her presence since she was pretty sure that Eden hadn't noticed her yet. Eden seemed to be aware of her on some subconscious level, though, because at the sound of Charlie's voice she merely leaned back and settled herself underneath one of Charlie's outstretched arms and stared out across the lawn and the criss-crossing sidewalks that stretched between all the buildings.

"I hate making friends," Eden sighed.

"Why? Meeting new people is so fun!" Charlie stated, baffled by Eden's mood. She thought the other girl would be ecstatic to get started with her involvement in the theatre department.

"I think I'm kind of…off putting? My friends in high school all told me that they thought I was intimidating when I first met them," Eden responded. "I'm kind of a handul."

Charlie did her best to push aside the comment that popped into her head— that, yes, Eden's breasts did look like they would be a perfect handful— and be a supportive friend instead. "Well, I think you're great. And anyone who doesn't is just a fucking moron."

Eden smiled widely at that. "I'm glad I have you Charlotte," she replied wistfully and leaned her head onto the girl's shoulder, deciding to ignore how  _right_  the position felt and how much comfort she found in the presence of her roommate.

"I have an idea," Charlie smirked down at Eden.

"Oh geez," Eden laughed. "What is it?"

"We can play 'Yea or Nay,'" Charlie said excitedly, bouncing slightly at the prospect.

"And what exactly is that?" Eden asked.

"It's when you look at someone and say if you'd tap that or not," Charlie said.

"You're incorrigible," Eden giggled, shaking her head.

"Oh come on, it'll loosen you up," Charlie whined. "It'll be fun! I promise."

"Fine," Eden said. "Shall we?" She stood up and waited for Charlie to stand as well and then the two walked into the building together.

The entire lobby was filled with freshman milling around, some of them in groups, others standing by themselves. The Lincoln Center housed a great many things. Upstairs were classrooms and a few of the business offices. Downstairs, where the girls had walked in, was the art department with the drawing and painting studios, as well as a small gallery that usually had some form of show up. As far as the theatre department went, there was the main stage and a smaller recital hall on the first floor. Then, in the basement, there was a black box studio, the greenroom and backstage area for the main stage, scene shop, costume shop, prop storage, and the art department's sculpting studio had its home there as well. It was by far the largest building on campus and there was always something going on inside, no matter the time of day.

Eden felt small just walking into it all, but Charlie didn't let her slip back into her nervousness. "Okay, 11 o'clock," she whispered to Eden.

"What? It's 5 o'clock," Eden said glancing at her watch, not sure what Charlie was on about.

"No! The position! Seriously?" Charlie huffed when Eden looked clueless. "Okay, picture yourself at the center of a giant clock. Like it's laid out on the ground all around us. So directly in front of you would be 12 o'clock and directly behind you would be 6 o'clock. Got it?"

"Ohhhh! Is that why people in movies always say stuff like that?" Eden asked, comprehension dawning over her features.

"Yes. Now, would you or would you not get down with the fella at 11 o'clock?"

Charlie watched as Eden mentally worked out where 11 o'clock was and then looked over at the guy who was perusing the art gallery by himself. He was a little scrawny, in Charlie's opinion, but looked like he showered regularly and had a decent hair cut.

"Ew, no," Eden answered immediately.

"Agreed," Charlie commented as the two moved further into the lobby.

"Okay, 4 o'clock," Charlie mumbled, casually pulling off her hat and running her fingers through her hair.

Eden spun around and stared at a guy that was leaning back in a chair and doing something on his phone.

"Can you be a little more subtle, please?" Charlie hissed, grabbing Eden's shoulder and turning her back around. She stumbled a little from the unexpected force of Charlie's hand on her shoulder and fell into the other girl's chest. Her eyes went wide as she straightened back up and Charlie cleared her throat loudly and pulled her hand away from Eden.

"Well? Is he more your type?" Charlie asked, trying to keep her heartbeat under control with Eden staring at her like that only a few inches away from her face.

"Eh," Eden shrugged rather noncommittally. "Not really."

"Seriously?" Charlie asked, glancing back at the guy on his phone. He was classically handsome—slightly muscular, strong jaw, dressed casually with a hipster sort of beanie on his brown hair. "I wouldn't kick him out of bed."

"Moving on," Eden snapped as the guy looked up and made eye contact with Charlie, grinning at her. She grabbed Charlie's upper arm and steered her towards the main auditorium where everyone was heading.

The two took a seat near the front and middle of the auditorium at Eden's urging, but this made it much more difficult to play Yea or Nay. Charlie immediately started finding reasons to casually look over her shoulder, though, so she could continue to keep Eden's mind off of her nerves.

She spotted a guy behind them that looked like he was a football player—big, beefy, blonde and wearing a jersey. Maybe Eden likes jocks? Charlie secretly hoped so. She was basketball player, after all. Dammit, no, Charlie corrected herself, she  _didn't_ want Eden to like her that way. She had to remind herself that a lot lately.

"5 o'clock. The big, blonde one," Charlie said into Eden's ear.

Eden looked around discreetly until she spotted the boy. "No, definitely not."

"You don't like jocks?" Charlie couldn't help but ask.

"Jocks are fine," Eden said. "I just don't like him."

"Okay…" Charlie said, her brow furrowing.

This scenario went on for another 15 minutes while they waited for the theatre professors to come out and give them an overview of all the ways they could get involved in the department. Charlie would spot a cute or good-looking guy and then give the coordinates to Eden who would look him over and ultimately reply that she didn't like him and wouldn't be interested in sleeping with him.

Suddenly it occurred to Charlie that she and Eden had never discussed their sexualities. Okay, scratch that. They'd never discussed Eden's sexuality. Charlie was assuming she was straight because that would make her own life a lot easier and less complicated. The more she thought about it, though, the more she realized that she wasn't basing that assumption on anything. Eden had never mentioned past relationships or celebrity crushes or  _anything_ really. Charlie looked at her roommate, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Eden, do you even like guys?" Charlie asked.

The look on Eden's face was priceless. At first she looked shocked, but then her features contorted into utter confusion. It reminded Charlie of a person's face when they saw something from far away and whatever it was looked strange and distorted and they couldn't place what it was until they moved close enough to see it properly. Eden turned her head and looked Charlie directly in the eye before she responded.

"I've never thought about it," Eden said. Her voice sounded small and shocked.

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, dumbfounded. "Haven't you ever had a crush on anyone?"

"Oh…no," Eden responded, glancing away from Charlie to stare in horror at the floor.

Charlie really didn't know what was happening. "Did you say 'Oh no' like 'shit!' or 'oh…no' as in you have, in fact, never had a crush?"

"I…think we should talk about something else," Eden stated, clearling her throat.

"Eden, come on!" Charlie declared. "You can't just leave me hanging like that."

"Okay, well, excuse me for not wanting to discuss my sexuality when I've only just realized that I have never even given it an ounce of consideration before," Eden hissed at Charlie.

"How is that even possible? Didn't you have any hormones in high school? Any…urges?" Charlie rambled off, yanking her hat off so she could run her fingers through her hair.

"Why do you do that?" Eden asked.

"Do what?! Ask you questions?" Charlie responded.

"No! That thing with you hair! You're always running your fingers through it. Why?" Eden demanded.

Charlie looked at her own hand like it was a foreign object. "I don't know. It's just a habit, I guess."

"Well…it's very…distracting," Eden huffed.

Charlie smirked at her. "Like, good distracting?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows.

There was a very pregnant pause that filled the air between the two before Eden finally stuttered out a response. "N-no," she responded weakly. "Can we just…oh thank god, it's starting."

The professors, two men and a woman, were finally walking up on to the stage and were shortly addressing the group of freshman, telling them about the shows that were being put on that fall and when auditions would be as well as passing around sign up sheets for the various shops they could volunteer in. After the talking portion of the open house was over, that professors split them into smaller groups and led them around the building on a tour, so that if they had signed up to work somewhere they'd know where to go the next week. It was a lot of information to take in and the girls didn't have any opportunity to talk for a while.

After the tour, though, they were informed that there were snacks set up out in the lobby and the professors encouraged them to mingle and meet some of the other students that they would likely be spending a great deal of time with.

Charlie had stayed close to Eden through the tour, but was doing her best not to add to any anxiety that her roommate might be feeling by questioning her any more while in front of the theatre professor. She was still Charlotte Cole, though, so she couldn't help but want to explore the possibility that Eden might be into girls. So, after they had each grabbed a plate of cheese and crackers, and settled themselves on a bench, she glanced around the room and picked out a redhead that was standing and chatting with a couple of other people directly across from them.

"Redhead at 1 o'clock," Charlie said casually, stuffing a cracker into her mouth.

Eden glanced up and spotted the girl, then looked over at Charlie with one eyebrow cocked menacingly. "That's a girl, Charlotte."

"Well spotted. Would you do her?" Charlie asked, turning her attention to the cheese on her tiny paper plate.

Eden looked back over at the girl and considered her for a moment. She was cute and she had a nice smile, but… _wait, what?_ Eden really didn't think she could have a crisis over her sexuality in the lobby of the Lincoln Center. It was just too much. So her brain shut the whole thing down.

"No. Of course not," she replied off-handedly.

"Okay, 9 o'clock," Charlie tried, pointing out a butch girl with short blonde hair.

"No," Eden said, barely looking over at her.

"11 o'clock," Charlie said, spotting a gorgeous girl with long dark hair and light brown skin that looked like she could be a model.

"No, not really," Eden answered, her eyes scanning over girl in question.

"Are you kidding me?" Charlie laughed. "That girl is beautiful! Holy shit. How can you not like her?"

"I don't know," Eden shrugged. "She's not my type."

"Well, I'm starting to think you don't know what your type is," Charlie sighed. "Which isn't a bad thing. It just makes this game pretty boring."

"Sounds like you like her," Eden commented. "I mean she is pretty."

"She's gorgeous," Charlie admitted. "I would DEFINITELY—"

"Okay! I get it," Eden cut Charlie off, not at all wanting to hear how badly her roommate wanted to have sex with the girl who was now sitting down on one of the benches across from them. "Guess you aren't rooming with the most beautiful girl on campus after all," Eden added quietly, surprising herself with the comment.

Charlie stopped with a cracker halfway to her mouth. Eden sounded  _sad._ She had to be imagining things. Eden couldn't be  _jealous_ could she? Had she actually taken what Charlie had told her that first day to heart? Well, even if she hadn't, she clearly remembered what Charlie had said. She knew this was a make or break moment. Even if she didn't think it was a good idea to get together with her roommate, Eden wouldn't  _always_ be her roommate. Charlie knew that if she ever,  _ever_  wanted to have a chance with Eden, the next thing that came out of her mouth was crucial.

"I mean, yeah, she's pretty, but her hair is kind of boring. Don't you think? Curly hair is way hotter. And she's a bit skinny for my taste," Charlie tried to say as casually as possible. "I like girls that have more…curves."

Eden definitely perked up at what Charlie said, but tried to brush it off like she didn't care. "Oh, that's…interesting."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes; neither of them not wanting to disturb whatever had just passed between them.

Eventually, Eden spoke up. "She looks kind of lonely."

"Who?" Charlie asked. She hadn't been paying attention to the fact that Eden was still looking over at the girl they had been discussing.

"The 2nd most beautiful girl on campus," Eden said, grinning at Charlie.

"Oh, her," Charlie said, grinning right back. She looked over to the girl and had to agree that she looked a bit sad and definitely alone as she looked around the lobby.

"Can I mess with her Eden? Just for shits, please?" Charlie pleaded, turning to face her roommate. Neither girl missed the implication of Charlie literally asking Eden for permission to jokingly flirt with another girl, but neither acknowledged it out loud, either.

Eden looked between Charlie and the girl for a moment before heaving a sigh and saying, "Go ahead. But when you're done, I'm going to invite her to sit with us."

"Deal," Charlie replied.

After that, Charlie got her game face on; seduction eyes and just a hint of a cocky smile pulling at her lips. She put down her plate and stared across the lobby at the girl as hard as she could. It didn't take long for the girl to feel Charlie's eyes on her and she looked up and found the source. Charlie started off slowly. She just raised her eyebrows at the girl once and smiled at her a little bit. The other narrowed her eyes at Charlie, her head cocked slightly, and raised her hand slightly in greeting. Charlie ran her hand through her hair then and leaned back a little, looking the girl up and down before winking at her and puckering her lips to insinuate a kiss. The girl looked at Eden this time, looking slightly worried about Charlie's behavior, and glanced back at Charlie before looking to Eden again. Charlie figured she was trying to wordlessly ask if Eden knew what was going on. But Eden, gem that she was, just smiled innocently and continued to eat her crackers. When the girl looked back Charlie, she went all in and ran her tongue along her top lip, then she raised her eyebrows a few times and motioned with her head to the side before gesturing between herself and the girl.

What happened next surprised Charlie, though. The girl looked her up and down, made a sort of half grimace and she looked appraisingly at Charlie as if she was trying to decide if she was interested or not, and then looked over at Eden again, with a smile. Then the girl stood up and made her way over to them. But instead of approaching Charlie, she went right up to Eden, who looked up at her with a scared look continue to crunch on her crackers.

"Hey," the girl said to Eden, "you busy later?"

"What?!" Charlie interjected. "I was giving you my best moves!"

"Oh were you? I thought you were having a fit or something," the girl deadpanned.

Eden burst out laughing at the open-mouthed disbelief on Charlie's face. "You deserved that!" Eden cawed at her roommate.

"You told me I could!" Charlie shouted back at Eden, then turned back to the girl and said, "Come on, you knew I was hitting on you, right?"

"I had my suspicions," the girl answered coolly. "But, it was still pretty odd. You should work on your approach. Maybe a little more subtlety."

"Being subtle is no fun, though," Charlie said, smiling up at the girl. "I'd much rather be forward. Wanna be friends?"

She laughed at that, but looked agreeable. "Sure," she responded then stuck her hand out to Charlie. "I'm Emily Fields."

"Charlotte Cole, but I go by Charlie," Charlie responded. "And this is Eden Renmark."

"I have to apologize for my roommate," Eden said. "She can be very rude sometimes and I'm afraid I don't always have the energy to keep her in line."

"Don't worry about it," Emily laughed. "It was pretty funny and I have to admit, it did break the ice. You never answered my question, though."

"Oh! Were you serious?" Eden said, gulping audibly.

"Well…yeah. If you want to, I'd love to hang out with you sometime. It doesn't have to be tonight," Emily said nervously, wringing her hands together.

"Mother fucker!" Charlie said, and both of the other girls' necks snapped over towards her. "Sorry, I uh…I'm gonna go get some more crackers and shit." Charlie stood up and shuffled away awkwardly, hating herself for ever flirting with that stupid, pretty girl who was now trying to STEAL Eden away from her. "Fuck me," she mumbled, now mindlessly pouring a third handful of crackers onto her plate.

Charlie glanced back over at Eden. Emily was now sitting down next to her and they were both laughing and smiling at one another. Charlie just glowered at them and headed in the direction of the door.

On her way out, she passed the guy who had briefly smiled at her earlier before they'd gone into the auditorium, and she handed him her overflowing plate of crackers saying, "Here, have some crackers."

He looked confusedly at her and as he accepted them. "Thanks?" he said. "Hey, I was wondering—"

"Sorry, not interested," Charlie mumbled and walked outside.

Charlie had made it about halfway back to Craft Hall before Eden caught up to her, out of breath. She had obviously just run after her.

"Why…why did you leave?" Eden breathed out heavily, crouching with her hands on her knees.

Charlie was definitely surprised to see her roommate. She figured she'd be out the rest of the night with Emily. She couldn't blame her, either.

"You and Emily seemed to be hitting it off," Charlie shrugged. "I didn't think you needed my assistance anymore, especially if you were going to go out with her."

Eden let out several more deep breaths, shaking her head as she did so. "I'm not going out with her," she said simply.

Charlie just stared at her Eden, who had caught her breath again finally, with a hesitantly hopeful look on her face.

"I told you earlier," Eden said, crossing her arms over her chest, "she's not my type. But we decided to be friends."

Charlie smiled, a bit wider than was probably advisable for someone who wasn't supposed to be developing a crush on her roommate.

"So you want to go to dinner now?" Eden asked.

"Sure," Charlie said, both girls falling into step, heading toward the cafeteria in the student union. "We just ate all those crackers, though."

"Charlotte," Eden said in exasperation as she linked her arm with Charlie's, "you have to eat more than crackers for dinner. They have almost no nutritional value."

"If you say so," Charlie laughed, thinking to herself that the campus looked absolutely beautiful that evening and that Eden's arm in hers was probably the reason for it.

* * *

The next day, Friday, was move-in day for the upper classmen, and that night was also the party at Sigma Chi that Vince had invited Charlie and Eden to attend. The two decided to spend the morning at the coffee shop downtown so they wouldn't have to endure the absolutely overwhelming amount of people that were pouring into campus. That afternoon, Eden made Charlie help her work on her monologue that she was going to use to audition for the fall main stage,  _The King and I._ Eden was, to put it mildly, thrilled when she found out that she would be able to audition for one of her favorite musicals for her very first show at Vallance. Charlie was sure that if anyone else had been Eden's roommate, they would have flat out refused to listen to her recite the same two paragraphs for literally three hours, but she didn't mind one bit. She liked watching Eden perform and helping her make sure that she had her lines down perfectly. By the time dinner rolled around, Eden was happy with her memorization and felt that with a few more days to run through it she would be ready for her first college audition. After dinner, the two decided to go on a stroll around campus and then headed back to their room to get ready for the party that night.

"Alright, so what time does the party start?" Eden asked, looking through her side of the closet for something to wear. "7? 8?"

Charlie just laughed at her as she turned on some music and fell backwards on to her bed, stretching out until she was comfortable. "You're so funny, Eden."

"And what exactly was funny about what I just asked?" Eden said, moving over to Charlie's bed so she could glare at her.

"Seriously?" Charlie said, cracking open one of her eyes and looking up at Eden. "College parties don't start until like 10 or 11."

"What? Why do they start so late?" Eden asked, flabbergasted at this new information.

"Fuck if I know. They just do."

"Well, it's barely 7:30! What are we supposed to do until then?" Eden huffed. "It'll only take me like an hour to get dressed and do my hair."

Charlie hoisted herself up onto her elbows with that mischievous look on her face that Eden was noticing made her heart beat a little faster every time she saw it. Though, whether the reaction was out of fear or  _something else_ , Eden wasn't quite sure.

"You wanna drink with me tonight?" Charlie asked.

"Why do I feel like you've made it your life's mission to corrupt and embarrass me?" Eden asked.

"You've never had alcohol before?" Charlie asked, though she just sounded curious, not like she was judging Eden.

"My mom let me have some wine, once, last summer," Eden said, "but it tasted like I was drinking liquid mildew and I felt like I was going to throw up afterward."

Charlie laughed at that. "Yeah, I'm not a big fan of wine, either, but it'll do in a pinch."

"How would we even get alcohol, Charlie? Neither of us is 21."

"If you want to drink with me, I can get us some stuff," Charlie said simply. "Just leave it up to me. But only if you want to. If you don't want to drink, I'll totally stay sober with you."

Eden walked around the room a few times and then leaned up against her desk, studying her nails closely and glancing over at Charlie a few times before she finally decided.

"Okay, yeah," Eden said very quietly, nodding a little and biting her lip.

Charlie jumped up from her bed with a big smile on her face. "Don't be nervous, okay? I promise I'll take care of you. I won't leave your side all night."

"I trust you," Eden said, and went back to her closet to finish picking out her outfit.

"Alright, I've gotta go make a call. I'll be back in a little while," Charlie said excitedly. And then, without even thinking about it, she kissed Eden on the cheek and skipped out the door.

Eden froze, a dress in her hand as Charlie ran out the door. Her entire face felt like it was on fire, radiating out from the place where Charlie's lips had just brushed. For some reason, the peck made her rethink the dress she had been pulling from her closet. For some reason, it made it want to wear something a little bit sexier. She went to her dresser instead and pulled out her smallest pair of jean shorts and a v-neck tank top. Then, in her closet, she pulled out a sheer black button down to put over the tank, leaving the top 3 buttons undone. As a last touch she put on a long necklace that dipped just into the top of her cleavage. Though she would never admit it out loud, Eden was well aware of the fact that she had great tits and tonight she felt like showing them off a bit. As for the shorts, it was still summer, sort of, she told herself, and it would probably be warm at the frat house if there was a lot of people dancing.

* * *

45 minutes later, she was just finishing up putting her make-up on when Charlie came bounding back into the room, looking victorious with a bottle of Peach Smirnoff in her hand. When she saw Eden, she stopped dead, and her jaw hit the floor.

"Oh my fuuuuck," Charlie whimpered at a barely audible volume.

"Do I look okay?" Eden asked, a bit self-conscious now that Charlie was back and staring directly at her cleavage.

"Yeah," Charlie blurted out, letting her eyes rake over Eden's legs now. "Good. Very…fucking great."

Their eyes met for a few seconds, Eden wondering if she should say something about the kiss Charlie had placed on her cheek, or if it would be better if they pretended it didn't happen, but her thoughts were interrupted by her roommate.

"Cups?" Charlie nearly shouted, tearing her eyes away from Eden's and trying her damnedest to keep her thoughts away from her roommate's magnificent chest.

"Right! I have coffee mugs," Eden suggested.

"Perfect," Charlie agreed, moving to her mini-fridge and pulling out a bottle of orange juice. "I thought we could just mix these," she suggested, obviously referring to the Smirnoff and juice. "If that's okay with you."

"Um, sure?" Eden said. Never having had alcohol before, she didn't have much of an opinion on how they should be preparing it now.

"Cool," Charlie replied, putting the bottles down on her desk. "I'm just going to, uh…change and then we can…start the…drinking."

Charlie usually wore clothes that were slightly baggy on her, mostly jeans and t-shirts and the occasional basketball jersey. Eden did her best not to watch as Charlie stripped out of her regular clothes and moved around the room for a few minutes in only her underwear as she gathered what she was changing into. When she was finished, Eden took her in. Apparently, Charlie's going out attire was the opposite of her every day attire. She was wearing a skin tight, red tank top, black skinny jeans, and a pair of loosely laced black boots. She wasn't wearing her normal snapback hat either. She'd let her hair long wavy hair free and she'd run her fingers through it a few times until it looked like she'd just finished having sex.

Eden let out a long, loud exhale. She felt like her eyes were going to bug out of her head. Since she always made it a point  _not_ to look at Charlie whenever the girl was changing, she was rather caught off guard now that she could see the clear outline of abs through the tight tank top that Charlie was wearing.

Charlie caught her staring at her defined stomach muscles and couldn't help but smirk. She'd worked hard to get those abs. But she decided to play the modesty card with Eden and see what she would say. "Is the tank top too much? I could put on one of my t-shirts," Charlie suggested.

"No!" Eden answered, then calmed herself down a little and added, "No, you look very nice."

"Alright then," Charlie said smirking. "Do you want to just drink and hang out or do you want to watch something and play a drinking game?"

"I've never played any drinking games," Eden stated. "How do you play?"

"Oh, well, you make the rules up yourself, depending on what you're watching," Charlie explained. "So if we were watching…. _Friends,_ we could say you have drink anytime Joey says, 'How you doin'?'" Charlie finished with a spot on imitation of Joey Tribianni's famous pick-up line.

"The rules are specific to what you're watching, okay," Eden said, nodding. "Let's do that. What should we watch?"

Deciding on a movie was much harder than either of them had anticipated. Eden wanted to watch a musical or  _Casablanca_  or something classic and Charlie wanted to watch  _Star Wars_  or a comedy or  _Space Jam_. Eventually they somehow came to a compromise of watching a few episodes of  _The Golden Girls_ and in no time at all it seemed they were both enjoyably tipsy and laughing, enjoying their drinks on Charlie's bed with Eden's laptop propped up between them.

"This is so much better than I thought it would be!" Eden said sometime during their third episode. "You're good at mixing drinks, Charlotte. You should always mix drinks for me."

"Okay," Charlie replied, giggling. "I'll be your official bartender whenever we drink together. I'll even name  _every single_  drink for you!"

"Really?! I love things with names. What's the name of this one?" Eden asked taking another drink.

"Hmmm, we should call it…The Popped Cherry or something," Charlie decided.

"Why? There's no cherries in this at all," Eden said, staring into her cup. "I think I might be getting drunk," she added.

"Yes, you're probably drunk since this is your first time. And that's also why we should call it The Popped Cherry! Because it's your first time drinking. So we popped your alcohol cherry. Get it?"

"You think about sex too much," Eden frowned, her eyebrows furrowed. "Or maybe I don't think about it enough?"

"Oh god, you're going to be one of those philosophical drunks aren't you?" Charlie laughed as she got up to pour them each another cup.

"We could call it…The Runaway Cherry," Eden said, returning to her qualms about the drink name. "That would imply that there is no cherry to be found."

"How about just The Runaway," Charlie suggested. "It's short and sweet. And I think a runaway would also not have very many ingredients for their drinks, like us."

"That's good! I like that," Eden said, hopping off the bed as Charlie tried to hand her the refilled mug.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm writing it down! I'm going to keep a log of all the drinks you make for me and then when we graduate if you can't find a job, you can just publish it as a book or use it to get a job as a bartender. "

"You are so weird sometimes," Charlie said, shaking her head and shamelessly admiring Eden's ass as she leaned over her desk.

"Just you wait. You're going to be happy I decided to do this," Eden said, scribbling down in one of her empty notebooks the drink name, it's ingredients, the date, and a short synopsis of what they were doing and why the drink had been made.

"Come back to the bed!" Charlie insisted after a few minutes. "You're missing the end of the episode!"

"Okay, okay," Eden replied, running back to the bed and jumping on it, nearly causing Charlie to spill both of their drinks as Eden toppled into her. When she fell into her, Eden's hand landed on those abs she had noticed on her roommate earlier and in her inebriated state, she couldn't help but take a moment to run her hand over them. "Holey moley," she said, causing Charlie to flush a deep shade of red.

"Eden, what are you doing?" Charlie squeaked as Eden practically petted her stomach in awe.

"How did you get these?" Eden asked, poking at Charlie's ab muscles now.

"I did a lot of sit ups," Charlie shrugged. "You know, for basketball."

"I think I like basketball," Eden mused, taking her mug from Charlie's grasp and turning her attention back to  _The Golden Girls._

* * *

At about 10:30, both solidly drunk at this point, the girls finally headed out to the party at the Sigma Chi frat house. Almost as soon as they stepped outside, they could hear the music, very faint from so far away, but still audible. Eden wasted no time in linking her arm with Charlie's and hauling her off in the direction of the music.

"It's our first party! We're real college kids now!" she squealed. Charlie couldn't help but grin adoringly at her as they trotted off down the sidewalk together.

"Okay, so don't drink anything while we're there," Charlie said, her protective instinct kicking in as they got closer to the house. "I know some of the guys here, and they all seemed really nice, but you never know. Some douche bag could try to slip you something."

Eden was staring at her and nodding, her expression suddenly serious. "Okay. Remember, though, you said you wouldn't leave my side."

"I won't," Charlie smiled, happy to hear that Eden didn't want Charlie to leave her. "I just want you to be careful."

"Got it," Eden answered her. "No drinks at the house!"

They had reached their destination now, standing on the sidewalk in front of the large, dingy frat house. The music was loud and they could feel the heat wafting out of the door and windows. It was a little overwhelming.

"You ready?" Charlie asked Eden, grinning. Eden nodded firmly at her and they set off, up the stairs and into the house.

There was barely space to move in the dimly lit room that they stepped into. The entire first floor seemed to have been cleared of furniture and was acting as one giant makeshift dance floor. There were some strobe lights set up around the space, but other than that, there were only a few lamps scattered here and there. All the overhead lights were off.

Charlie had gone in first and she felt Eden, behind her, grab a handful of her tank top in her fist so they wouldn't get separated in the crowd. The feeling made her light headed as they started making their way through the overheated crowd, looking for a spot that was big enough for them to dance in. As they made their way through the house, it seemed like every single frat boy shouted out a greeting to Charlie. One after another, they pushed their way over to Charlie and slapped her on the back or gave her a high five, each of them telling her something along the lines of, "Hit me up if you need anything."

By the time Charlie had located a semi-empty corner and they had made their way over to it, Eden was giving her very suspicious looks. Charlie could tell she wanted to talk to her about why all these guys seemed to know her, so she immediately pulled Eden closer to her and started to dance so as to avoid the conversation.

Eden was a natural dancer, but she had never danced at a party like this or  _with someone_. Charlie knew exactly what she was doing, though. She seemed like she was completely in her element, moving her body seductively close to Eden's without actually touching her and dragging her hands through her hair so she could pull it off of her sweaty neck, smiling all the while and mouthing the words to the songs she knew. Soon, though, Eden wasn't satisfied with just being able to  _watch_ Charlie as she danced and the alcohol coursing through her blood erased any thoughts of why she shouldn't just put her hands on the other girl's hips. So she did. But she couldn't shake her wonderings over what the hell Charlie was doing to make herself so friendly with all these frat boys. So she took the opportunity, as long as she was in Charlie's personal space any way, to ask.

Eden moved forward confidently, but as she did so, Charlie stopped moving, her eyes growing wide as Eden's wrapped her hands around Charlie's hips and moved up against her, continuing to dance. For a moment, Charlie just sort of stood there, gaping as Eden's danced  _on_ her. Then Eden met her eyes and she snapped out of it. Charlie tentatively moved her hands around Eden's neck and started to dance with her.

It seemed to Charlie that they should have always been dancing together, they so naturally complemented the way the other moved. It wasn't anything too dirty, they just moved to the music with their hands wrapped around each other. Charlie was just starting to relax and stop worrying about what it all  _meant_ when Eden pressed even further into her so she could speak into her ear and be heard over the music.

"How do all these frat boys know you?" Eden asked.

Even though it wasn't at all a sexy thing to say, the fact remained that Eden was speaking into Charlie's ear, less than an inch away, so she could feel Eden's hot breath and it sent a shiver down her spine that was difficult to ignore.

Charlie had to lean into Eden to answer her and she could have sworn she saw Eden lick her lips as she did so, but she was pretty drunk and could've been imagining things. "I did a few of the Sigma Chis a favor," Charlie answered deciding to be honest but vague.

Now the two of them were standing completely stationary, flush against one another, mouth to ear, Eden's arms wrapped around Charlie's hips still, and Charlie's hands around Eden's neck. It was quite an odd situation for the roommates to be in, but as they were both drunk and enjoying themselves, they simply continued their conversation.

"What kind of a favor?" Eden asked, her breath tickling Charlie's skin and causing her grasp at the thing nearest her hands, which happened to Eden's hair, in order to steady herself.

"None of your business," Charlie said. She tried to make it sound snappy, but it just came out as sort of sultry.

"Was it…a sexual favor?" Eden asked, a definite edge in her voice now that bordered between angry and possessive.

"Does it matter?" Charlie asked, gulping anxiously.

"Yes," Eden replied instantly, her hands tightening and sliding up to grip Charlie's waist. "It matters."

"Wait. Is that what you think of me?" Charlie asked. Through her drunken haze, she seemed to have only just registered what Eden was implying. And suddenly Eden wasn't the only pissed off one between the two of them. "You think I'm just going to give blow jobs to half the fucking frat brothers here? Fuck you, Eden." Charlie pushed away from her roommate and headed for the door.

She knew Eden would follow her. There was too much tension coursing between the two of them for Eden to just let her walk away. Charlie could feel her, too, just a few steps behind her. She was insulted that Eden would ever assume that Charlie was handing out sexual favors just to become popular, and as much as she didn't want to even look at her at that moment, she was also glad that Eden was following her because she was drunk for the first time and as mad as she was, Charlie had given Eden her word that she wouldn't leave her. They would just have to have it out with each other back at their dorm room.

Charlie burst out the door and relief washed over her as the cool night air hit her skin. It really was too fucking hot in that house. She took a few deep breaths and then started down the steps. Something made her turn around when she reached the bottom, though. Eden. "Eden?" Charlie called out. She wasn't anywhere in sight now, though Charlie was sure she'd been right behind her a moment before. Panic ripped through her chest as she hurried back up the stairs and began combing through the crowd with her eyes. Charlie still couldn't see her anywhere and her heart was beating wildly in her chest. She started to push her way into the crowd once more, becoming more and more desperate to find Eden the longer she looked.

Finally, she spotted someone who could, at least, help her. Vince was making his way toward her, smiling broadly and holding a red Solo cup in one of his hands.

"Hey, you made it!" he yelled over the music.

"Have you seen Eden?" Charlie asked him, the worry evident in her voice. "We got separated."

"She just went out the back," Vince replied. "She was with a guy. He had his hand on her back so I thought they were together."

"They're not," Charlie replied, completely sober now, as she started to elbow people out of her way so she could get to the back door. She vaguely registered Vince calling out to a couple of his frat brothers and hurrying after her.

It felt like forever, blood pounding in Charlie's ears, before she reached the back door, which was propped open slightly, and found herself standing on the large back porch of the frat house, Vince and two other guys right behind her.

"Do you see her?" Charlie said, scanning the entire area around the house, trying to distinguish Eden from amongst the dozens of other students moving around the area.

"No," Vince replied.

"Dammit!" Charlie exclaimed, banging her fist onto the railing of the porch. "EDEN!" she yelled, praying for a response.

"Char—!" the response was cut off before Eden could even finish her roommate's name. But Charlie had heard it and she took off down the stairs, running in the direction she thought it had come from, which in the direction of the neighbor's backyard.

She bolted around the back of the neighbor's fence and saw, down at the far end, a guy who had his hand over Eden mouth while she struggled to get away from him. Charlie ran forward, ready to rip the guy's head off if she had to, but before she could even get to him, Vince and one of his friends were pulling the guy off of Eden and throwing him to the ground. Charlie saw Vince punch him in the face once before his frat brother pulled the guy back to his feet holding his arms.

"Aaron, call the cops!" Vince called to his other frat brother.

Charlie barely registered anything else that happened as she rushed forward and began to run her shaking hands over Eden's face and arms, checking her for any injuries.

"Are you okay? Did he hurt you?" Charlie choked out. "I'm so sorry, Eden. I'm so sorry I left you. Are you okay?"

Eden had tears running down her face and she looked terrified, but she seemed physically unharmed. She collapsed forward onto Charlie's shoulder and started to cry in earnest now that she was safe. Charlie just held her and continued to murmur a stream of apologies into her ear until she had calmed down slightly.

It wasn't long before the cops arrived. They arrested the guy who had assaulted Eden and took statements from Charlie, Eden, Vince and the other two Sigma Chi boys before leaving.

Eden seemed to be in shock. She kept trying to apologize to Vince because the sudden appearance of a police car had the college students clearing out of the party pretty quickly.

"I'm sorry I ruined the party," Eden mumbled, running her hand over her face as she and Charlie made to leave.

"Eden, please stop apologizing," Vince said, his voice sounding slightly raw. "You didn't ruin anything. That asshole was the problem, not you. There's nothing to apologize for. It was a stupid party. I'm sure people can find somewhere else to drink and dance."

"Okay," Eden nodded weakly.

"Thank you," Charlie said quietly to Vince as she and Eden left.

Eden kept a firm grip on Charlie's arm all the way back to their dorm, but she didn't say anything so Charlie didn't either. When they got inside, Eden seemed relaxed a little more. She changed into her pajamas and went into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Charlie followed suit, wanting to do anything she could to help Eden feel better. If Eden wanted to go to bed, that's what they would do.

Once she had her pajamas on, Charlie sat down on her bed and waited for Eden to reemerge from the bathroom. She felt jumpy, like she didn't want to let Eden out of her sight, even to use the bathroom. It was stupid, she knew that, but she felt so horrible. If she hadn't stormed away from Eden at the party, this never would have happened. She couldn't help but feel like she would never be able to forgive herself for what had almost happened to Eden.

When Eden came out of the bathroom, Charlie went in and, as fast as she possibly could, peed and then brushed her teeth. She didn't want Eden to be alone. Going back into the room, she saw that Eden had turned off the overhead light. The room was now only lit by the lamp next to Eden's bed. Charlie thought that maybe she wanted to sleep with it on tonight, so she headed toward her own bed to lie down.

"Charlie?" Eden asked quietly when her roommate came into her line of vision. "I know this is kind of a weird request, but would you….would you sleep with me tonight?"

"Of course," Charlie replied immediately and moved over to Eden's bed, climbing carefully into the space that Eden had made for her and snuggling down under the covers facing her roommate. She wanted to follow Eden's lead, to be silent until Eden's said something, but she couldn't stop herself form apologizing again. "Eden, I'm so sorry," she began.

"It's okay, Charlie," Eden interrupted her. "I'm sorry, too. What I said to you at the party, well, if you had said something like that to me, I would have stormed off, too. It was totally out of line. What happened…it wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was," Charlie replied, her voice strained from the effort to not give in to her own tears. "I left you. I said I wouldn't and I left you."

"You came back for me, though," Eden replied gently. "You didn't leave me. You came back."

"But what if I hadn't been able to find you in time? What if that guy—"

"I don't want to think about that," Eden said sharply. "You did find me. Okay? We both screwed up tonight. But everything turned out okay."

Eden wrapped her arms around Charlie and hugged her close against her body, breathing in her vanilla scent deeply as she buried her face in Charlie's hair. Charlie wrapped her arms around Eden, too, and they stayed that way for a long time, just holding one another, reassuring each other that they were safe now.

Eventually, Charlie pulled back slightly and broke the silence. "I've been buying text books for them," she said, her green eyes locked firmly with Eden's deep brown ones.

"What?" Eden said, her brow furrowing slightly, obviously not following what Charlie was talking about.

"Vince and the other Sigma Chi guys. That's the favor I did for them," Charlie admitted sheepishly. "That night at The Gondola when I went to say goodbye to Vince, I gave him enough cash to buy his text books for the term. And I told him to give my number to anyone else who couldn't afford their books. That's who I've been going to meet. That's why I know so many of the frat boys and why they like me so much. Because even the one's I haven't bought books for know that I helped some of their brothers out with something."

Eden seemed at a loss for words. She looked at Charlie in awe for a few moments while she gathered her thoughts. "Oh, Charlotte," she finally said, shaking her head slightly as a tear slipped out of her eye. "You are the most confusing person I've ever met."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked, feeling extremely vulnerable.

"You're just not what I expected," Eden clarified. "Every time I think I have you figured out…you go and do something like this."

"Like a…in a good way?" Charlie wondered aloud.

"So good," Eden told her. "You're such a good person. Much better than me."

"That's not true," Charlie responded, gently brushing a strand of curly hair out off of Eden's face. "You're good, too."

"Not like you, Charlie," Eden whispered, and then she leaned forward and kissed Charlie on the forehead, silencing any response the other girl may have had. "Let's go to sleep."

"Alright," Charlie said, leaning behind her to flick off the lamp.

Eden nuzzled into Charlie's chest, wrapping her arm tightly around the other girl and not sparing a single thought for what it meant that she wanted to be this close to Charlie. She could figure all that out later.

"Thank you for coming back for me," she whispered into Charlie's neck.

"Thank you for forgiving me," Charlie said back.

Soon they had both drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

* * *

On Sunday morning, after Charlie and Eden had returned to sleeping in their separate beds the night before, Charlie was rudely awakened at 7 am by Eden's alarm clock.

She opened her eyes and frowned as she watched Eden silence the alarm and then climb out of bed.

"What are you doing? It's Sunday. Classes don't start until tomorrow!" Charlie croaked out.

"I know that," Eden laughed, already far too chipper given the hour as far as Charlie was concerned. The girl was obviously a morning person. "I'm going to church."

"Why?" Charlie groaned, pulling her blankets up until nothing but her head was poking out. "Your mom isn't here. You don't have to go."

"I know that, too," Eden responded moving over to her closet and pulling out a conservative dress to wear. "I want to go. I like church."

"There are people who exist that actually like church?" Charlie mumbled.

"Yes, there are," Eden quipped. "Now, go back to sleep. When I get back later though, I'm dragging you to brunch with me."

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie grumbled, turning over and pulling the blanket completely over her head. "Just keep it down, will ya?"

Eden grabbed her pillow from her bed and used it to smack the lump that was Charlie.

"Ow," the lump pouted, making Eden laugh as she headed off to the shower.

When Eden returned from church three hours later, Charlie was still fast asleep in her bed. She moved over to her roommates bed and flopped herself down on it unceremoniously, causing Charlie to groan slightly.

"Go away," Charlie said, gripping the blanket tightly over her head.

"Nope!" Eden said cheerily. "Come on, you're going to waste the whole day if you don't get up. Come to brunch with me!"

"You're so annoying!" Charlie huffed, throwing the blanket off of her head finally. "It's not even 10:30 yet."

"You're not going to make me go to the caf alone are you?" Eden asked, sticking her lip out in an exaggerated pout.

"Ugh," Charlie said, rolling her eyes. "You better let me nap later. I'm serious, Eden!"

"Okay, okay. I will," Eden said, moving off of Charlie's bed so the girl could get up and get ready.

Half an hour later, Eden sat down across from Charlie, placing her plate of waffles and eggs down in front of her. After settling herself in her chair, she looked over at Charlie, cocking her head as she took in what the girl had sitting in front of her.

"Charlotte," Eden began, "may I ask why you have selected four drinks and no food for your brunch this morning?"

Charlie rolled her head back and flopped her hands onto the tabletop dramatically, letting out a grunt of frustration.

"Because I can't decide things when I first wake up! It's too hard!"

"So instead you got four beverages?" Eden asked, trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Yes, okay?" Charlie responded before taking a drink of her chocolate milk.

"What did you even get?" Eden said, craning her neck to try and look inside the cups Charlie had lined up in front of her.

"Chocolate milk, orange juice, Mountain Dew, and fruit punch," Charlie said pointing to each one in turn.

"You need to eat actual food," Eden said, raising one eyebrow at Charlie disapprovingly.

"I told you, I can't! I don't know what I want!"

"For pete sake, you are such a baby sometimes," Eden scoffed, pushing her chair back and walking off in the direction of the food again.

Five minutes later she returned with a heaping plate of biscuits and gravy, which she plopped down in front of Charlie.

"Ooh, this looks good," Charlie said, grinning now. "Can I use your spoon?"

"You've got to be kidding me," Eden replied, but handed over her spoon nonetheless. "Is this how it's going to go every Sunday?"

"Only if you make me get up," Charlie grinned and started shoveling spoonfuls of biscuits and gravy into her mouth.

The prospect seemed oddly appealing to Eden as she, too, began to eat.

* * *

The next day classes started and Eden and Charlie both had a little trouble adjusting to their new schedules. Charlie got lost twice that first week and Eden had to make several trips back to their dorm room in between her classes just to unlock the door for Charlie, who had a bad habit of forgetting her keys. Eden had gone to her first history class thinking it was her math course and taken the wrong book with her. Consequently, she spent the entire lesson too embarrassed to listen to most of what the professor was saying and didn't have the assignment he had asked them to complete when she went back on Wednesday.

Eden had her audition for the main stage the following Friday, but she had to wait until the Wednesday after that to find out that she was cast as Tuptim in  _The King and I_. The moment she found out she called Charlie to tell her, screeching so loudly into the phone that Charlie feared she might have hearing damage. That night Charlie took her out to a diner in town so they could celebrate. Eden was too excited to each much, but Charlie ate two plates of cheesy fries and spent the rest of the night trying not to puke them up while Eden said "I told you so."

Charlie started basketball practice the following week. Having something physical to do again relieved a great deal of the frustration she was feeling from all the sexual tension that she and Eden spent most of their days ignoring. It created a whole host of new issues for Eden, though, who it turned out, maybe did have a thing for jocks after all. The first time she saw Charlie completely decked out in her practice jersey and shorts with her hair pulled back in a messy bun, she had to excuse herself to the bathroom and splash cold water on her face.

Before they knew it, September was coming to a close and they had officially survived their first month of college. Although neither could exactly define it, they both knew they were more than just roommates. If asked, they would have said they were friends. Close friends. But Charlie sometimes fell asleep trying to think of an excuse to sleep in the Eden's bed with her again and Eden was having more and more trouble  _not_ looking whenever Charlie stripped down and changed clothes in front of her. For now, though, it was manageable, whatever it was. They both had classes and homework, rehearsal and practice. Eden always linked her arm with Charlie's when they walked somewhere together, though, and Charlie spent most of her free time helping Eden run lines and she was perfectly content to spend her weekends curled up with her roommate watching old musicals. They didn't talk about any of that, though.


	3. October, Freshman Year

Charlie had propped herself up on the end of Eden's bed, her computer in her lap. She was trying to write a paper for her history class, but it just wasn't coming to her. She was on Eden's bed because that's where the window was, and Charlie had opened it as wide as it would go, hoping to catch any breeze that might wander past their building. She would much rather have been outside, doing something fun, or in the gym, practicing with her team. Unfortunately, she was stuck inside, trying to do her homework.

Autumn had finally, truly descended on campus in the second week of October; all of the trees were changing color and there was that crisp quality in the air most mornings, accompanied by a very collegiate smell, Charlie had decided. Something about the fall made her feel like a real college student. She had never cared much for the changing seasons in Chicago. She'd never paid them much mind or appreciated them. But for some reason, now that she was here at Vallance, she couldn't help notice everything that was happening in the world around her. It was like those allergy pill commercials, where those sad people wandered around all their life with blurry vision, and then they took Claritin and the whole fucking world was a field of poppies they couldn't stop frolicking through.

Charlie looked down, again, at the blank Word document that was open on her laptop. Her professor, who Charlie referred to as Professor Blowhard, but was actually named Bolnard, had asked them all to write about an historical event that had affected their own lives significantly.

 _History is a funny thing,_ Charlie typed out slowly, thinking she could probably bullshit her way through this entire assignment,  _often doomed to repeat itself. Doomed, however is not always the right word. For example: Stark Trek debuted in 1966, forever changing the face of television with its new fangled ideas and fantastical landscape. In 1987, Gene Roddenbury hit a homerun once again, when Star Trek: The Next Generation graced television screens. Then, however, tragedy struck. It was 1993, and the devil's name, it turned out, was Deep Space Nine. History was, indeed, doomed. Seven years had never felt so long. Minutes seemed to stretch on for an eternity. Hours moved by at a snail's pace. Damn you, History! Damn you for repeating yourself!_

Charlie smiled down at the paragraph she had just typed. Now that she had a subject matter, she felt much better. She could bullshit for awhile longer and then she could talk about Captain Kathryn Janeway of the starship Voyager, without whom, Charlie might never have discovered her attraction to women. Perfect. Who wouldn't want to read a paper about outer space adventures and homosexual tendencies?

Charlie allowed herself to flop down sideways for a moment, so that she was lying down on Eden's bed. Her roommate's pillow was just above her head. Charlie looked up at it, hesitating for only a millisecond before she snatched it up and brought it down on her face, inhaling Eden's scent deeply. This was creepy. Charlie  _knew_  that, but she couldn't help herself. Eden was just  _so_ infuriatingly, mouthwateringly, ridiculously attractive and enticing. And basically perfect for her. Charlie's plan to not develop a crush on her roommate was failing miserably. She felt like every moment, every day she spent in Eden's presence was just another nail on the coffin. Eden was so talented and stubborn and commanding and soft. Charlie wanted to lick her everywhere, but especially in between her shoulder blades for some reason. Charlie decided she'd have to investigate that particular desire more closely later. For now, she put the thought out of her head and enjoyed the sensation of being enveloped by Eden's smell. With the pillow still on top of her face, Charlie imagined how this was what it would be like if Eden was on top of her, kissing her, pinning her to the mattress, grinding her hips down on Charlie's own. She groaned aloud as the fantasy played itself out in her mind. She was in deep shit, she admitted to herself. She was in stupid fucking love with her roommate. Well, maybe not  _in love,_ yet, but that's definitely the road she was headed down.

Suddenly, the door of the room burst open. Charlie only had time to fling the pillow off of her face and sit up before Eden rounded her desk, which, Charlie thanked her lucky stars, had blocked what she was doing from view.

"Charlotte!" Eden yelled happily, before her eyebrow arched, taking in Charlie's position on her own bed, and the rumpled pillow that was leaned precariously halfway against the wall. That was definitely not how she'd left it that morning.

"Hey," Charlie replied weakly, still trying to regain control of her loins, which had gotten rather carried away with themselves during her pillow-induced fantasy.

"Why are you on my bed?" Eden asked curiously.

"Uh…" Charlie looked around her, deciding to play dumb. "Oh…is this…your bed? I…must have gotten confused."

Eden simply gave her a suspicious look, but eventually decided she didn't mind that Charlie was on her bed, and returned to the original reason she had barged into their room so exuberantly.

"I found the most beautiful leaf!" she shouted at Charlie. "You have to come see it!"

Charlie looked up at her incredulously, slowly closing her laptop, and moving away from Eden's bed. She was just thankful that Eden hadn't interrogated her further or asked her about the pillow.

"Are you serious right now? A leaf?"

"Yes, I'm completely serious," Eden said, grabbing Charlie's hand as soon as she had put her laptop down on her desk, and yanking her out the bedroom door. "It's the most gorgeous leaf in all of God's creation and I want you to see it."

"Why didn't you just bring it in?" Charlie wondered, extracting her hand from Eden's grasp. It still wasn't' safe for her to be making physical contact with the girl.

"That would just be selfish," Eden said as if it were obvious. "I had to leave it where it was so that other people could walk by and notice it, too."

"Of course you did," Charlie said as they stepped outside and she followed Eden along the sidewalk. "How silly of me." She wasn't sure how it was possible, but everything Eden did just seemed so endearing to her. Charlie almost felt like she was suffocating from how much she adored her roommate. "Wait? What time is it? Shouldn't you be at rehearsal?"

Rehearsals for  _The King and I_ were already in full swing. Eden wasn't needed every day. It depended on what scenes the director wanted to work on. He emailed out schedules each week so the actors would all know when they should be there. Today, though, Charlie knew, Eden was supposed to be in the theatre. Charlie knew this because she may or may not have memorized her roommate's schedule each week. But no one had to know that, not even Eden.

"Yes, I have to be there in 10 minutes!" Eden said, looking down at her watch. "So we have to hurry!" She doubled back for a moment so she could link her arm with Charlie's and once she had, they set off at a brisk pace.

They walked in silence for a ways, Charlie reveling in the feeling of Eden's warm hand wrapped around her upper arm, before she broke the silence.

"You came home just to drag me out here to see this leaf? When you had to be at rehearsal?" Charlie asked, narrowing her eyes at her roommate. "That's crazy, Eden."

Eden came to an abrupt halt, turning to face Charlie, but not bothering to extract her hand from the crook of Charlie's arm. She was smiling and laughing a little bit. "I guess it is kind of crazy," she admitted. "But as soon as I saw it, all I wanted to do was show it to you. Whenever I see something beautiful you're the first person I think of."

Charlie wanted so desperately to kiss Eden then, in the dappled light that was filtering through the red leaves on the trees, making the shadows shift and sway on the ground around them. To finally feel those soft lips pressed against her own. And she almost gave in, too. Her body was leaning ever so slightly forward, her eyes dancing all over Eden's beautiful face, landing time and again on those lips. But Charlie was terrified of what it would do to them, what would happen if she did and Eden was disgusted or horrified, or, even worse, laughed at her and told her that she didn't feel the same way. So she just grinned, giving Eden the most genuine smile she could muster.

"So, where is this leaf?" Charlie asked.

"It's right here," Eden smiled back at her, looking down at the sidewalk between their bodies. "Right here."

"Well, back up a bit so I can see it properly," Charlie smirked, trying to regain some of her smarmy charm, as she crouched down to inspect the leaf.

It really was beautiful. It was small, this leaf, and shaped like a raindrop. It reminded Charlie of her second grade teacher, who had taught her class cursive, and the way she had described the lowercase "a" to them all, telling them to make them like plump raindrops. The color was deep red, like dried blood, flecked with bits of green and orange. Charlie could honestly say that it was one of the prettiest leaves she'd ever seen, though, she hadn't been looking that closely at things like leaves before now.

"It's it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?" Eden asked, unable to keep the silence she had been while she watched Charlie admiring the fallen leaf.

Charlie smiled broadly, looking back up at Eden, taking in how excited she looked, how she was biting her lower lip slightly while she waited to hear Charlie's verdict. "Almost," Charlie replied simply.

Eden face sobered as she stared down at Charlie, neither of them saying it. The thing rippling in the air between them was palpable enough with them having to acknowledge it. "Are we still on for dinner later?"

"I'll meet you outside the caf at 7," Charlie nodded.

"Oh, Charlie!" Eden squealed, pointing to something beside Charlie's foot as she stood up. "A buckeye! They're good luck. You should keep it!"

Eden hurried away as Charlie glanced down at the round, deep brown, stone-shaped thing by her heel. She'd seen these little things before, but once again, had never bothered to pick one up before. When she did, Charlie was surprised to find how hard it was. For some reason, she had expected it to be soft, even squishy maybe. She spun the buckeye behind her fingers a few times and then tossed it into the air and caught it.

"Good luck, huh?" she mused out loud, an idea popping into her head. Maybe she couldn't outright woo Eden, but this, well, she could pass this off as a sweet gesture from a good friend. Or, she'd completely blow her cover. She'd have to wait to find out until next month.

Charlie looked around at the ground, and sure enough, was able to locate several more buckeyes that had fallen from the trees nearby. She filled the pockets of her hoodie up with seven or eight of them and then set off in the direction of the Lincoln Center herself, where, on the evenings she didn't have practice, she had been working in the scene shop.

* * *

When Charlie got in to the scene shop she looked around for the guy who was in charge most days, a senior named John. Every time Charlie had come in to volunteer in the past few weeks, he had been the one to give her a task to work on. Looking around, though, Charlie couldn't see him anywhere. In fact, the only person she saw was a skinny blonde chick she'd seen every time she worked in the scene shop. The girl was quiet, but really seemed to know what she was doing. She had shoulder length hair that she always wore in a ponytail and baggy jeans with holes and dried paint splattered on them. Since no one else was around, Charlie made her way over to this girl.

"So did you kill everyone else?" Charlie asked, in lieu of a greeting.

The blonde leaned back from the spotlight she was doing something to with a screwdriver and pair of wire cutters. She was wearing a Beatles t-shirt with the sleeves cut off today. Charlie was pretty sure the girl was gay, but, as she hadn't hit on her, she couldn't be sure. Charlie had seen her around campus with Emily a few times, though, and that seemed to be confirmation enough for her. Charlie lived her life on assumptions, which often turned out to be true.

The girl seemed to be considering Charlie's question very carefully, looking around the shop for anyone else. "No," she said finally turning back to the light she was repairing. "John proposed to his girlfriend this afternoon and she said yes, I guess, and when he showed up about 15 minutes ago he was in such a good mood that he offered to take everyone out to The Cherry Pit and buy them a round of beer. I'm only 18 so…" the girl shrugged her shoulders, assuming that explained why she was the only one present. "You're Charlie, right?"

"I am," Charlie confirmed, smiling smugly as she tied her hair back into a bun. "My reputation precedes me, I see."

"Emily told me who you were," the girl said simply. "She said Eden was your roommate?'

"Um, yeah, she's my roommate," Charlie answered, not happy to hear that Emily was talking to people about Eden. "She's my friend, too. What was Emily…saying about her?"

"Just that she must be really talented," the blonde replied, still working on the light in front of her. "Freshmen don't often get cast in the mainstage."

Charlie beamed with pride at the comment. "She is. Eden's incredible," Charlie gushed. "You should hear her sing."

"I'm Jo, by the way," the girl said conversationally. Charlie couldn't be sure, but she thought Jo sounded a little hurt that Charlie hadn't even asked her who she was.

"Sorry. I'm often rude when I don't mean to be," Charlie said, sticking her hand directly in front of Jo's face, who was startled by the intrusion, but pulled back and shook it nonetheless. "My sister once told me that no one actually likes me. They all either hate me or want to sleep with me."

"Why would she say that to you?" Jo asked, looking appalled. "That's horrible."

"Yeah well, Felicity is kind of a bitch," Charlie offered nonchalantly. "When I was a junior, she brought her skeezy boyfriend home to meet my parents and he hit on me—"

"How?" Jo asked suddenly, her attention completely fixed on Charlie now. "What did he do?"

"Oh, well, at that point I was trying to take up smoking, you know, to piss my parents off, so after dinner I went outside for a cigarette. This guy, his name was Randy, he came out as well because he actually smoked. While we were out there he started saying all this weird shit to me. Told me I was really pretty and asked me if I was virgin and said that it would be embarrassing if I graduated high school and I was still a virgin. I mean, this guy was a real winner. I have no idea what my sister saw in him. But anyway, after all that he came over to me and grabbed my ass, right there, like 5 feet from the front door."

"What did you do?" Jo asked, her eyes wide in shock.

"I put my cigarette out on his neck," Charlie grinned wickedly.

"Holy shit!" Jo gasped. "Seriously?"

"Fuck yeah," Charlie said. "The guy had just sexually assaulted a minor. It was self defense!"

"What did he do?" Jo questioned.

"He screamed like a little bitch and stormed back inside, yelled at my sister and told her what I had just done and said they were leaving right then. Felicity asked me why the hell I would do that and I told her what the fucker did. And that's when she said that people either hate me or want to sleep with me. Then she went after him," Charlie said, finishing the story. She shrugged, trying to act like it didn't matter.

"That's so messed up," Jo said. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Charlie said grinning. "My, uh…friend, Sandy," she went on, not wanting to reveal the fact that she had a nanny until she was 18, "she said Felicity was just embarrassed about the whole thing and it made it her lash out. That she didn't really mean it, what she said."

"Still," Jo said, shaking her head, "that's a fucked up thing to say."

Charlie was just about to leave. This was the part where things inevitably got uncomfortable and awkward. She had shared something pretty intimate about her life and now Jo was feeling sorry for her and the tense silence would descend on them and choke the life out of any friendship that might have possibly blossomed between them. Charlie always tried to keep conversations light and funny for this reason, but she had gotten carried away telling the story and revealed a bit too much. She had just started to turn when Jo spoke again.

"I had a brother, but…he died when we were just kids," Jo said almost in a whisper, her brow furrowed. "So, I don't know, maybe I just don't get sibling relationships."

"What was his name?" Charlie asked before she could stop herself.

"Jonathan," Jo said. "Most people called him Johnny, though. You know…when I imagine what he might be like now…I'd like to think we'd be close. That we would never say things like that to each other, but, who knows? We might've ended up hating each other."

"Nah, he'd love you," Charlie said, leaning up against the table Jo was working on. "My family's just screwed up. You're brother would be awesome. I bet he'd be a fighter pilot or something!"

Jo laughed, loudly. It sounded like music bouncing around the workspace's high concrete walls. Charlie couldn't help but laugh along with her.

"A fighter pilot?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah! He'd wear aviators and one of those leather jackets with the furry collar thing," Charlie went on.

"Okay, now you're just describing the wardrobe from  _Top Gun_ ," Jo smiled.

"Well, that's what pilots wear!"

"Hey, do you want to help me wire some lights?" Jo asked, apparently finished with the light she was working on. "I'm doing the ones that are actually in the set pieces today, so we'll get to see how rehearsal's going."

Charlie's eyebrows quirked up at the offer. She'd get to spy on Eden and see how her numbers were going. "Yeah, let's do it," she agreed.

"Cool," Jo said, smiling. "Grab that ladder and follow me."

* * *

Eden and Will, the guy who was playing the Lun Tha to her Tuptim, were in the middle of a song when she felt it: Charlie was somewhere nearby. Eden had no idea how she knew this, but she was certain that if she turned around, she would see her. So she didn't turn around, because if there was anything that distracted Eden, it was Charlotte Cole. She was still trying to wrap her head around what the hell it was exactly that she was feeling for Charlie, but every time she got anywhere near what she thought it probably was, Eden would mentally panic and back away quickly.

Eden had been going to church every Sunday, without fail. It was habit, yes. Her family had always gone to church. She and Gabriel and Esther had been baptized when they were babies and Nel had brought them up to believe in God and Jesus and everything that went with it. So, yes, Eden went to church out of habit, but she also went because she genuinely loved it and believed in God. Being a part of the church made her feel grounded, like she wasn't just a soul floating aimlessly around in a sea of countless other souls. God had created her, He knew her, and she had a purpose in this life. She loved that. Eden loved tradition and ritualistic nature of it all, too. The hymns she knew by heart. Taking communion. Saying the Lord's Prayer. Knowing that after the service there would be mediocre coffee and cookies baked by the old ladies who asked her each week about how her classes were going even though they couldn't remember her name. Maybe it was that same repetition that made her love theatre so much; it was that act of knowing exactly what came next, the words and the music never changing. But lately, church had become…nerve wracking, to say the least. For the first time in her life, the words of the pastor's sermon felt like an attack rather than a reassurance. Eden didn't know what it all meant, or maybe she did, but she just couldn't acknowledge it yet. It was all just too much. The fact remained, though, that when she walked out of the church's doors after enjoying a couple of cookies with the old women, she felt relieved. She breathed in giant gulps of the clean, morning air and felt like she had been granted some sort of a reprieve for the week. But when she got home, and saw Charlie snuggled up in her bed, her hair a tangled mess on her pillow, usually snoring lightly, she just wanted to jump on top of her. And tickle her. And pull her. And push her. Eden spent a great deal of energy ignoring that feeling, so it was a good thing she had about three times as much energy as the normal person.

Now, Eden was spending at least half of all that energy she possessed on just getting through this song,  _We Kiss In Shadow,_  and the other half trying to convince herself that she was crazy, because there was no way she could have developed some kind of sixth sense that alerted her to Charlotte's presence. That was ridiculous. All at once, the song ended, and then—

 _Oh no,_ Eden thought. She was supposed to kiss Will now.  _No,_ she corrected herself,  _Tuptim is supposed to kiss Lun Tha._ Eden steeled herself and tried to fully commit her mind to the character she was playing. Then she turned in his arms and met Will in a soft kiss that made her feel a tad queasy.

"Alright, that's good!" the director, a middle-aged theatre professor named Roger Trench, called out from his seat in the audience. "The song was fantastic. We just need to go over the blocking a few more times and you two will have it. But the kiss? Definitely needs work. I know stage kisses can be a bit stilted sometimes, but you can do better than  _that_."

Eden shuffled her feet nervously as she listen to Roger critique their scene, knowing full well that the kiss had been half-hearted at best. When he had finished, she turned and let her eyes search around the stage for the person she was sure was there somewhere. It took her a moment, and Eden almost resigned herself to the fact that she was crazy and Charlie wasn't even there, when she spotted her upstage against one of the pieces of the set. Charlie was holding up a sconce while a blonde girl next to her attached some wires to it that were poking out of a small hole in the wall. She looked like she was purposefully avoiding Eden's gaze. Her head was bowed slightly, but she had her trademark cocky grin turning up the corners of her mouth. And Eden knew it was for her. Charlie was pleased that Eden's kissing scene had been a complete flop. She just knew it.

"Okay, let's get Jess and Jack up to run  _Shall We Dance?_ " Roger announced.

Eden knew she was free to head off stage for a bit and use the bathroom or do whatever she needed to do. Her feet immediately led her in the direction of her smirking roommate. Eden knew she couldn't stop and talk to them while rehearsal was still going, but as she passed by Charlie, her eyes came to rest on the sliver of skin between the waist of her jeans and her t-shirt that was bared as Charlie held the sconce over her head. Eden didn't plan to do it, but as she walked past, she let her hand drift out and her fingers skim gently along that bit of exposed skin. The action made Charlie shiver slightly and Eden felt her mouth go dry at the response. She kept walking, though. She didn't turn around and meet Charlie's eyes because that would imply an admittance she was unwilling to give. No, she didn't look over her shoulder as she left the stage. She didn't need to; she could feel Charlie's eyes burning into the back of her head already.

* * *

That night, Charlie invited Jo to join her and Eden for dinner for two reasons. One, because she liked her a lot, and she was sure Eden would, too. The second reason was that Charlie needed a distraction from how badly she wanted to tackle Eden to the ground and, consequences be damned, have her way with the girl.

"You sounded…amazing during rehearsal today," Charlie said when the three of them had sat down at a table with their dinners on yellow cafeteria trays.

Eden was looking down at the rice and vegetable stir-fry in front of her. She licked her lips nervously before looking up and into Charlie's eyes.

"Here, you should eat some of this broccoli," Eden said, picking up her plate and shoveling some of her broccoli onto Charlie's plate next to her cheeseburger and piece of chocolate cake. "You don't eat enough vegetables."

Charlie didn't say anything, just raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes at Eden.

"What?" Eden said, on the offensive now. "I'd rather not have to get another roommate because you've died of scurvy."

Charlie speared one of the pieces of broccoli on her fork and sniffed it hesitantly before sticking it in her mouth and chewing it with a grimace on her face.

"Thank you," Eden said when Charlie had finally swallowed it.

Eden spoke the words far too gently, though, Charlie thought, to be thanking her for eating a piece of broccoli. The two held each other's gaze for just a moment, just long enough for an understanding to pass between them, but not quite long enough to be more than that.

"So, you're friends with Emily, right?" Eden asked, turning to Jo, who nodded with a mouth full of food. "We met her at the Open House. The four of us should hang out sometime."

Jo smiled widely, and looked over at Charlie, before saying, "Yeah, I'd love that! I'll give you guys my number."

* * *

It was Tuesday afternoon, the following week, and Charlie and Eden had drug their books and laptops down to the lobby so they could spread out on the couches there and do some work.

Well, Eden was doing her homework. Charlie was reading Sports Illustrated, but she'd hidden it inside of her math book.

"Are you going to actually do some work or not?" Eden snapped suddenly.

"Excuse me? I am working. It's called math," Charlie scoffed, holding up her book as proof. "I'm doing a lot of math."

"I can see the magazine, Charlotte."

"Well, color me surprised, Sherlock, you cracked the case," Charlie replied. "If you must know, I've finished it all."

"When? I feel like I haven't seen you doing any work for days!" Eden insisted.

"I didn't realize you were paying such close attention to me. I'm touched. You really do care," Charlie commented in a snarky tone. She was in rare form today, most likely due to her lack of sleep for the past week.

Eden glared at her. "You're my roommate. Of course I care about you."

This was the exact reason Charlie had barely slept: Eden was driving her crazy. Every time Charlie had tried to bring up what had happened between them last week, Eden touching her waist like that, the other girl would play it off like it was nothing. At this point, Charlie was actually considering that she might have imagined the entire thing.

Charlie gave Eden a skeptical look. "I'm pretty sure most people don't make sure their roommate has their homework finished."

"Well, someone has to keep you in line," Eden replied. "Besides, we're friends, too."

"I knew it, you do like me."

"I'm mildly fond of you," Eden replied flippantly, "when you're not annoying me." Both of them knew she was more than mildly fond of Charlie, but Eden wasn't about to back down from their verbal sparring match now.

"I'll grow on you," Charlie quipped, smiling.

"Like a fungus, no doubt," Eden shot back.

"Ouch," Charlie said, holding her hand over her heart.

"Do your homework."

"I told you, it's already done."

"When did you do it? I didn't see you do it."

"I did it last night," Charlie said, extracting her magazine from her textbook since there was no point in pretending anymore.

"Last night we watched  _Oklahoma!_ and then we went to bed," Eden told her, determined to catch Charlie in a lie.

"Yes, but  _then_ , like the past five nights, I tossed and turned for an hour, then I gave up on sleeping and got up again and did my homework," Charlie explained gruffly.

"Seriously?" Eden asked, worry etched on her face.

"Yep," Charlie replied.

"Seriously?"

"Yes, Eden," Charlie snapped. "Why is that so hard to believe?"

"Sorry, I just…why…can't you sleep?" Eden asked in a much softer tone than she had been using.

Charlie sighed, immediately feeling bad that she had snapped at Eden. "I don't know. I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

"Golly, I'm sorry, Charlotte. I had no idea," Eden said, staring down at her hands. When she looked back over at Charlie, the girl was biting her bottom lip, clearly trying to hold back a smile.

"What?" Eden asked, annoyed again.

"You just said 'golly,'" Charlie explained staring at Eden adoringly.

"So?" Eden snapped.

"You're just so fucking cute," Charlie sighed. "I may vomit on you."

"Yuck," Eden drawled, making a disgusted face while Charlie laughed at her.

"Can we focus please?" Charlie teased. "One of us has homework to get back to."

"Oh, shut up."

"On a serious note, though, if you come home after your class later and I'm asleep," Charlie stated, "Please don't sing or…tap dance or anything Eden-esque, basically."

"Very funny," Eden dead-panned. "I promise I won't wake you."

"Thank you. I appreciate your cooperation in this matter."

Eden rolled her eyes at Charlie's feigned formality.

"So, since you're already done with your homework, you won't mind if I practice for my voice class, correct?" Eden said, eager to work on the new song she'd been assigned the day before.

"You're gonna sing?" Charlie asked, trying to act like she didn't care; like she didn't swoon like a 13 year old every time Eden sang.

"And play the piano, yes," Eden extrapolated.

"Yeah, whatever, that's fine," Charlie shrugged, pretending to go back to her magazine, when actually all of her attention was glued to her roommate who had moved to the piano a few yards away.

Charlie was mesmerized by how talented Eden was. Not only was she an amazing singer, but she could play the piano, too. And she could do both at the same time. Charlie's couldn't even pat her head and rub her stomach at the same time. Charlie was glad that Eden had her back to her while she sat at the piano because it meant that Charlie could stare at her openly with a dopey grin on her face and not have to explain to Eden why she looked like someone had just smacked her over the head with a 2x4. Even if she couldn't contain the potentially life-altering crush she had on her roommate, Charlie still though it was best that she kept the evidence from Eden in order to maintain some sense of normalcy between them while they lived together. Plus, openly fawning over someone was just embarrassing.

After she had run through a few songs, however, Eden turned around abruptly and Charlie smacked herself in the face with her Sports Illustrated she pulled it up so quickly. Charlie hoped that Eden hadn't noticed. If Eden's giggling was anything to go by, though, she had.

"Charlie?" she said after she was able to control her laughter.

"Yeah, what?" Charlie answered, trying to play it cool.

"Would you mind helping me?"

"With what?" Charlie asked warily, lowering her magazine just enough to peer over the top of it.

"Well, yesterday, we got paired up for duets—"

"No," Charlie cut her off, pretty sure she knew where this was heading. The last thing she wanted to do was make a fool of herself in front of Eden.

"Oh come on, it's an easy song! It's from  _Oklahoma!_ actually. That's why I wanted to watch it last night."

"Is it that one about the fucking wagon? I'm not singing that," Charlie told her point blank.

"No. And it's a  _surrey. The Surrey With A Fringe On Top_ ," Eden corrected her. "The one I was assigned is  _People Will Say We're In Love."_

Charlie burst out laughing, sure that Eden was kidding now. "Okay, good one, Eden! You had me for a minute there."

"Charlie, I'm not joking. I really need someone to sing with me so I can practice the whole song," Eden whined.

"So call your duet partner! That's the obvious answer here!"

"Ugh! I can't stand him. He's so stuck up. I don't want to spend any more time with him than is absolutely necessary. Please, Charlotte?"

God. She loved it when Eden called her Charlotte. It made her ovaries feel like they were playing double dutch with her fallopian tubes. Knowing she was fighting a losing battle now, Charlie let out a huff and tossed aside her magazine. Eden squealed and clapped.

"Fine," Charlie muttered. That was when an idea struck her. She quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket when Eden turned back to the piano and opened her voice memo app. This was going to be horrible, Charlie just knew it. Maybe if she recorded it, they could at least get a laugh out of it later. Or maybe she could use it as leverage if she ever needed to blackmail Eden. Whichever happened first, Charlie reasoned. It had to come in handy somehow. Charlie started the recording and then casually placed her phone on top of the upright piano, out of Eden's sight.

"Alright," Eden began, spreading sheet music across the holder above the keys, "Charlotte, you can be Curly and I'll be Laurey. Okay?"

"Yep."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, Edie."

"What?" Eden said, sounding shocked and slightly in awe.

"What?" Charlie echoed.

"You called me Edie."

"Uh…yeah. Laur- _ey_. Ed- _ie_. I was just teasing. Sorry," Charlie said, backtracking.

"No! I…um…I like it," Eden said, unable to meet Charlie's eyes. "I've always wanted a nickname."

Charlie smiled so broadly she thought her jaw might snap. "Well then, _Edie_ , we gonna do this or what? Come on! Let's rock this shit."

"Charlotte, one does not 'rock this shit.' It's Rogers and Hammerstein!"

"I have no idea who Roger and Humblebug are, so…can we just sing already?"

"You're lucky you're cute," Eden muttered quietly under her breath, bristling at the disrespect to two of her idols.

"What was that?" Charlie teased her. "I'm lucky I'm what?"

"Nothing," Eden snapped, busying herself with the sheet music again, trying to ignore the heat creeping over her face. "Here we go!"

Eden began playing the intro, her eyes locked on the music in front of her, then sang, " _Why do they think up stories that link your name with mine?"_ She played on for another measure or so, then stopped abruptly and shot an expectant look at Charlie, who just raised her eyebrows in question.

"You missed your entrance!" Eden yelled.

"Eden, I don't know how to read music!" Charlie yelled back. "You have to help me!"

"Well, you can read  _words_ can't you?" Eden huffed.

"Okay, you don't have to be a bitch," Charlie said and moved as if to get up from the piano bench.

"Wait, wait! I'm sorry," Eden said, grabbing Charlie's hand in both her own.

Charlie's breath caught in her throat at the sudden contact and she had to clear her throat before she could speak again.

"I told you I'm no good at this," Charlie said sadly.

Eden squeezed her hand gently and tugged at her until she eased back over on the bench. "That was uncalled for. I'm sorry, Charlotte. I'll sing your line for you first," she said, "and then you can sing it, okay? Then just follow along with the words and I'll help you with the melody."

"Alright," Charlie replied with a sigh. And then she realized that Eden was still holding her hand.

Charlie looked over at her roommate's face. Eden, too, seemed to have noticed she was still clutching Charlie's hand, and she was staring down at them, a look of fierce concentration on her face. She slid their fingers together for a moment, maybe just to see how they would look interlocked, Charlie mused, as she watched Eden lace their fingers together. They looked pretty good, she decided. Then, Eden released her, rather reluctantly, and cleared her throat.

"Shall we?" she asked, bringing her eyes up to meet Charlie's.

"Whenever you're ready," Charlie replied.

Eden started to play again, sang her line and then Charlie's, and then went back and let Charlie attempt the line.

" _Why do the neighbors chatter all day behind their doors?"_  Charlie sang quietly, attempting to match the notes Eden had sung.

"Pretty good!" Eden said happily, smiling over at her, vamping on the piano. "Now, I have a long section and then it'll be your turn."

Charlie nodded at her and Eden took off singing.

" _I know a way to prove what they say is quite untrue. Here is the gist, a practical list of 'don'ts' for you. Don't throw bouquets at me. Don't please my folks too much. Don't laugh at my jokes too much. People will say we're in love."_

Charlie hadn't paid close attention to the lyrics of this song when they had watched the movie the night before. But now that she was listening to Eden sing them, she couldn't help but laugh. They were just so…dead on.

Charlie hadn't bought Eden flowers, but really, it was only a matter of time with the amount of plays Eden was planning on acting in while they were at Vallance. Charlie had done everything she could to make a good impression on Nel. And she definitely laughed at Eden's lame jokes too much.

" _Don't sigh and gaze at me,"_ Eden continued to sing, shooting Charlie a pointed look that made her freeze and immediately stop laughing.  _"Your sighs are so like mine,_ "Eden continued, making sure not to look over at her roommate now, lest she incriminate herself as well.  _"Your eyes mustn't glow like mine. People will say we're in love."_

Again, Eden stopped playing. Instead, she started wringing her hands nervously. "You know, this was a stupid idea. I don't know what I was thinking. You don't have to sing. Let's just forget it."

"Now who's getting shy?" Charlie chuckled. Had Eden really just now caught on to the implications of this song? Charlie wondered. "Nope. No backing out now. I want to sing my verse."

"Well, I'm not playing anymore!" Eden stated, stubborn as ever. She made to get up, but this time, Charlie was the one to grab her hand and pull Eden back onto the piano bench.

"Then I'll do it a cappella," Charlie said, doing her utmost to keep buried the seductive tone that wanted to come out.

Eden looked, well, terrified, but she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from Charlie, nor did she make any move to separate their hands.

So, mustering every bit of cockiness she could to mask how breathless she had become in the midst of _whatever_ this moment was that was transpiring between them, very slowly, Charlie turned back to the sheet music that was spread across the piano. She found where Curly's section began. Then she cleared her throat and started to sing what she was sure wasn't the right melody at all.

" _Some people claim that you're to blame as much as I."_

"You're flat," Eden said, giving Charlie the sweetest smile she'd ever seen. Then she hummed the next line's melody and Charlie continued.

" _Why d'you take the time to bake my favorite pie? Grantin' your wish I carved our initials on that tree. Just keep a slice of all the advice you give so free. Don't praise my charm too much. Don't look so vain with me. Don't stand in the rain with me. People will say we're in love."_

Charlie took a moment to clear her throat. "Jesus, this is a long song," she muttered.

Eden laughed and squeezed her hand encouragingly. "Just one more verse now."

Charlie took a deep breath and continued.

" _Don't take my arm too much. Don't keep your hand in mine,"_ she sang, rather shakily, and glanced uneasily over at Eden.

Eden smiled back at her just as nervously, but slipped her fingers in between Charlie's and looked expectantly at the sheet music, so Charlie kept going.

" _Your hand feels grand in mine."_  —Charlie was sure she'd never blushed so fiercely before— _"People will say we're in love. Don't dance all night with me till the stars fade from above. They'll see it's alright with me. People will say we're in love."_

A deep silence settled over them when Charlie finished. But she swore, Charlie swore to herself later that night when she couldn't sleep, that Eden had started to lean toward her, that Eden was looking at her lips. That was until a guy wrenched the lobby door open and startled both of them, successfully clobbering their fragile little moment to pieces.

At the intrusion, Eden pulled her hand back and shook her head slightly as if snapping out of a deep hypnosis. "Oh shoot," she said, glancing at the large clock on the wall. "It's already almost 2 o'clock. I should get going."

Charlie didn't know what was happening. Were they really going to pretend that they hadn't almost…whatever? She just sat there on the piano bench feeling a bit shell-shocked and nervous as Eden gathered up her belongings.

"I'll see you tonight for dinner right?" Eden asked uncertainly, as if eating a meal together could possibly have been more intimate than singing a love song to each other. "At 7?"

"Sure thing," Charlie said, meeting Eden's eyes for just a moment to confirm their usual dinner plans.

"Bye," Eden said a little awkwardly. She was halfway out the door when she turned back.

"Charlie?" Eden called.

"Yeah?" Charlie replied, turning around to give the girl her full attention.

"Do you…um…do you like pie?" she stuttered.

Charlie's eyes softened so much at the question that she thought they might slide right out of her skull. "I love pie," she answered.

"Well…what's your favorite kind?" Eden asked, smoothing out her skirt just to have something to do.

"Huckleberry," Charlie told her.

"Hmm. Huckleberry," Eden repeated, and looked like she was considering its merits. "I'll remember that." She nodded firmly, as if the motion could cement it in her head.

"Bye, Edie," Charlie smiled.

"Bye, Curly," Eden muttered and bustled out the door.

As soon as Eden was gone, Charlie stood up, grabbed her phone, and stopped the voice memo recording. It was definitely not what she was expecting it to be a record of, but Charlie was happy she'd capture it nonetheless. Who knew? Maybe it would still come in handy someday.

* * *

That night was no different than the past five nights for Charlie. She was exhausted, but as soon as she lay down in her bed, her mind started moving faster than a runaway train. And it was even more fueled than before because of how sure she was that Eden had almost kissed her that afternoon. The only difference, it seemed, was that she wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep tonight. As Charlie rolled around in her bed, over an hour after she and Eden had turned off the light in their room, she realized that Eden was doing the same thing and sighing loudly as she flopped back and forth under her blanket.

The two had barely spoken to one another after their emotionally loaded duet earlier. Luckily, though, Emily and Jo had started joining them for dinner in the cafeteria on some nights, so their lack of direct interaction wasn't really noticeable within the larger group conversation. Charlie noticed, of course. And she was sure Eden was hyperaware of it as well. When they got back to their dorm that night they both busied themselves with homework and kept to their own side of the room.

Charlie was just about to give up on sleeping yet again, and get up and do something, maybe grab her laptop and watch an episode of  _Parks and Rec,_ when she saw Eden throw back the covers on her own bed and stand up. She walked across the room toward Charlie's bed and stood by the side of it.

"Can't sleep?" Charlie asked, rather unnecessarily. It was pretty obvious she couldn't.

"Yeah," Eden replied quietly. "Whatever you have, you must've given it to me."

Charlie let out a dry chuckle. "I'm very sorry, but at least you have me for company. I've been all alone in my sleeplessness."

"Scoot over," Eden said. Her voice was still quiet, but it was also firm.

"O…kay," Charlie replied, not nearly as steady as Eden seemed to be.

Charlie shuffled in on her bed, towards the wall. Eden climbed in behind her, slipping her body under the blankets. When Charlie made to turn over, so they would be face to face, Eden stopped her with a hand on her back. "No, stay like that," she told her.

Charlie didn't say anything, but she stayed on her side, facing the wall. She could hear Eden shifting behind her, and then, Charlie was pretty sure her heart actually stopped beating for several long moments, because she felt Eden slip her soft, warm hand underneath the back of the t-shirt Charlie was wearing and begin to rub her back in long, calming strokes. It was the first time that Eden had touched such a large expanse of her bare skin, and it felt so good Charlie couldn't help but let out a long moan.

Eden giggled behind her and started to scratch lightly across Charlie's back instead, which only made Charlie groan in pleasure even more and scoot back, closer to the other girl. This, in turn, made Eden laugh even more.

"Ugh, don't laugh at me," Charlie whined. "I can't help it! This is the most anyone has touched me since move-in day."

"I know," Eden agreed. "I didn't realize how often my mom gave me hugs until now. I mean, I even miss my sister begging me to let her braid my hair constantly. No one told me college was going to be such a drought of physical contact."

"Well, you know," Charlie grinned. "We can start hugging…if you want. I wouldn't mind. Because…babies can die, if they don't get touched enough. Did you know that? It's science. So we'd just be keeping each other alive."

"That's very big of you, Charlotte," Eden replied sarcastically. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Really, I would've thought with all the steamy kissing and hand holding you get to do on stage with Will, you'd be meeting your quota just fine."

"Oh shut up, Charlie," Eden snapped, pinching Charlie's waist and making her yelp and roll over quickly. The aftermath of this being that the two were now eye to eye with their faces only inches apart, and Eden's hand was still loosely draped over Charlie's waist.

Eden stared at Charlie long and hard and Charlie let her, let the silence and darkness of the room settle around them until it had almost become a memory. She had no idea what was going through Eden's mind, but for once, Charlie didn't care. She was happy just to be able to stare at her so unabashedly. Still, Charlie couldn't help but notice how Eden's eyes looked sad, or guilty, maybe. But she didn't push her to open up about it.

Finally, Eden spoke. "So, I was thinking, maybe you could drive us to Peoria this weekend. We could go to that Halloween store Jack was telling me about and pick out our costumes for the party."

There was a big Halloween bash one of the sororities was hosting in the basement of the student union the Saturday before Halloween. And Jack, the guy who was playing the King in  _The King and I,_ a good-natured senior, had told Eden about a Halloween superstore with a giant selection of costumes in the nearby city of Peoria. They hadn't been to any parties since the incident at Sigma Chi. Charlie hadn't wanted to attend any nearly as much as Eden. But since this party was being held in the middle of campus, and not in a sweaty house they were completely unfamiliar with, they had both decided that they felt comfortable giving the college party scene another try. Eden had even requested that Charlie make up another mixed drink for her.

"Sure," Charlie agreed, her eyelids starting to feel heavy, at last. "You wanna invite Em and Jo?"

"I was kind of hoping it could just be us," Eden admitted, toying with the hem of Charlie's shirt.

"Okay," Charlie said, a sleepy grin gracing her face. "Saturday?"

"Actually, can we do Sunday afternoon?" Eden requested. "I think I'm going to need something to look forward to after church."

"Whatever you want, Edie," Charlie mumbled, her eyes fluttering shut.

Soon, Charlie's even breathing was the only noise in the room, but that was only because the swarms of thought that felt like they were eating Eden's brain alive made no sound outside of her own mind.

* * *

"Did you get it?" Eden asked, pulling the door open for Charlie as she hurried in and pulled a bottle of whisky out from underneath her jacket, Eden closing the door behind her and locking it. "Did Val see you?"

Val was their RA and she had informed them all a the first suite meeting that she was required to report any underage drinking that happened in the suite. Well, any that she was aware of. That just meant, as far as Charlie was concerned, that they couldn't get caught.

"Yeah, she saw me," Charlie huffed. "But I don't think she knew I had this." Charlie motioned to the whisky as she moved over to the mini-fridge and started pulling out different bottles of soda and juice. "She's always asking me about basketball and when our first game is and telling me how fit I look."

Eden glared at their door, as if she could shoot her dislike through it like laser beams and make Val feel her wrath. "I'm telling you, she wants to sleep with you, Charlotte."

"And that upsets you?" Charlie grinned, catching sight of the death glare Eden was still shooting at the door.

Eden seemed to catch herself as soon as Charlie started teasing her. She relaxed her face and turned back to her roommate. "I just think it's creepy! I mean, she's our RA. She's supposed to…look out for us and…help guide us through our first year at college."

"Well maybe I'll let her  _guide me_ through a mind blowing orgasm," Charlie leered, enjoying how worked up Eden was getting.

"You're…disgusting!" Eden snapped.

"You're jealous," Charlie countered.

"Of what?"

"You tell me, Edie," Charlie drawled, running her fingers through her hair as she turned away from the drinks she was mixing and leaned back against her desk where it butted up against her bed.

Charlie was expecting Eden to scoff and brush off the comment; basically, do what she always did and avoid the tension growing between them. So when she narrowed her eyes seductively and sauntered her way over to Charlie until their bodies were practically touching, Charlie internally panicked a little. Her eyes widened as she looked her roommate, who now had her pinned against her own desk, up and down. "E-e-den," she stammered, "what are you—?"

But Eden leaned forward and put her mouth to Charlie's ear, her lips curled in a smiled, and whispered, "Charlotte, you're so  _easy._ " Then she straightened up and went back to her own side of the room, laughing loudly.

"Hey! I am not easy!" Charlie responded angrily, definitely not appreciating the sentiment. She tried to walk over to challenge Eden, or push her maybe (at this point, the two were using any excuse to touch each other) but that was when she felt it. "Oh," Charlie frowned, looking down at her wrist, which was encircled by a shiny metal ring that wasn't there just a few minutes ago. The other half of the handcuffs were closed around one of the metal rails on her bed. "Damnit, Eden."

Eden was downright cackling now, rolling around on her own bed with tears pouring down her face. When they had gone to Peoria the weekend before, she had bought a police officer costume and was especially pleased when she'd found a real pair of handcuffs to go with it. They were the kind that came with a key, not the flimsy, plastic ones that had a release button on the side of the cuffs. Since she'd bought them, she'd already managed to trap Charlie three times, locking her to various things in their room. It was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes.

"You're such a bitch, Eden," Charlie huffed. "You've had your fun, now unlock me."

Eden sat up and wiped her face off with the sleeve of her shirt. "Mmmm, nah. I think I'll leave you there for a while. Let you suffer."

"Can I at least have my drink?" Charlie begged, stretching her free arm across her desk, trying to reach the top of the mini fridge that was beside it, where she had been mixing the drinks.

"I suppose," Eden answered, strolling over to grab one of the cups, taking a long drink of it and licking her lips happily as she handed another of the cups over to Charlie. "Ooh, this is good! What's in this one?"

"I'm not telling until you release me," Charlie stated firmly.

"Oh, well, I don't care that much," Eden grinned and took another drink.

"You're going to regret this," Charlie swore, moving so she could sit on top of her desk. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do to you yet, but, man oh man, you're going to be sorry you were ever born!"

"Bring it on, Cole!" Eden said, starting strip down out of her normal clothes so she could change into her costume.

Charlie didn't even pretend that she wasn't looking. She was too pissed about the handcuffs. She let her eyes wander over every inch of skin that Eden revealed. It wasn't like she was naked, so Charlie didn't feel that bad about it. She continued to drink her concoction while Eden buttoned up the rather skimpy black shirt, pulled on the matching short skirt, and placed the police-style hat that had a badge pinned to the front of it on top of her head. She finished the outfit off with a pair of thigh high leather boots.

"What do you think?" Eden asked Charlie when she had finished dressing and spun around a few times to model the costume for her.

"God bless Halloween!" Charlie said, raising her cup into the air and then downing what was left inside it.

* * *

Eventually, Eden let Charlie out of the handcuffs so she could change into her costume, which was Katniss from  _The Hunger Games._  Charlie had refused to buy any costume with a skirt, so when, after a hour of looking they finally found the simple black outfit and fake leather hunting jacket, Eden had been overjoyed. Plus, Charlie was as excited about carrying a bow and arrow as Eden was about carrying the handcuffs. Thankfully, though, the bow and arrows weren't real, otherwise Eden's eye would most likely have been shot out by the time they left for the party, as Charlie kept attempting shooting the plastic arrows at her when her back was turned. Before they left they filled up a couple of water bottles with Charlie's concoction, that they had decided to name Etcetera, and were already feeling the effects of it by the time they reached the student union.

It wasn't until they were standing in line, waiting to get into the party that Eden realized they had a problem. She stepped out of the line momentary and strolled a little bit closer to the door before hurrying back to where Charlie was holding their place.

"Charlie, we can't go in there," Eden hissed.

"What? Why not?" Charlie asked, confusion etched into her face.

"Campus Security is up there checking peoples' IDs! We're underage and reek of alcohol and are carrying two giant bottles of it!"

"Alright, calm down there, Tuptim," Charlie rolled her eyes. "They're not  _giant bottles._ They're just normal-sized."

"That's not the point, we're going to get arrested!" Eden shouted.

"If you quiet yourself and calm the fuck down, then NO we won't get arrested," Charlie growled as she pulled Eden out of the line of similarly costumed students and began walking them in the direction of the Lincoln Center, just to get Eden out of there before she actually did get them into trouble. "You would be a horrible cop, by the way. You have absolutely no chill."

"Okay, RUDE," Eden said. "Just for that, I'm going to arrest you."

Before Charlie even knew what happened, Eden had stepped in front of her and closed the handcuffs around both of her wrists. She might have been able to avoid her if she weren't already pretty drunk. As it was though, Charlie just shook her hands helplessly, leaned her head back and cried, "You can't arrest me! I'm the Girl on Fire!"

Eden just cackled and led Charlie by the chain between the cuffs over to a nearby bench. "Handcuffing you is my new favorite hobby!"

"You must be kinky as fuck in bed," Charlie mused, finding that she didn't care much that Eden had trapped her again. She was feeling too good from the alcohol, and in all honesty, Charlie liked when Eden locked her up. She liked it  _a lot_.

"Charlotte!" Eden gasped, shocked at the brazen statement. Then her eyes narrowed conspiratorially. "You really think I will be?" she asked in a whisper, leaning close sp Charlie's face that Charlie could smell the booze on her breath.

"Are you a virgin?" Charlie asked curiously. They had never outright discussed their sexual experiences before.

"Yeah," Eden sighed. "My mother, she kept close tabs on me. And, well, I never really  _wanted_ to do it with anybody in high school."

"Fair enough," Charlie replied. "And to answer your question, yes. I think it's pretty clear that you'll be into bondage, at least."

"You have a point," Eden laughed. Then her face fell. "Ugh, what are we going to do now? I wanted to dance tonight! We've got our costumes on and everything."

Charlie frowned. She hated it when Eden was upset. "The TKE's are having a party tonight, too. We don't have to go if you don't want to, though. If you're uncomfortable with it."

Eden considered it for a moment. The thought of going to another frat party after she had been assaulted at the last one they had gone to made her stomach churn. The whole thing had been terrifying, but at the same time, she didn't want to let one horrible experience dictate her entire college party experience.

"I won't leave you this time, I promise," Charlie said earnestly beside her. "Only if you want to, though."

Eden smiled slyly as she looked down at Charlie's hands. "No, you won't leave me this time," Eden told her, pulling the little key out of her pocket, unlocking one of the cuffs and cinching it around her own wrist. "Let's go, Mockingjay," she said happily.

"Oh, I see how it is," Charlie laughed, as she hopped up and trailed along after Eden as she led the way to the TKE house. She had to; they were handcuffed together.

The TKE house was less crowded than Sigma Chi had been those few weeks before. Eden was thankful for that. It made her less nervous about going in. Knowing that she and Charlie were literally inseparable made her feel much better, too. As they walked up the front steps, Charlie laced the fingers of their hands together and Eden almost forgot completely about everything in the world other than the girl next to her.

Eden led the way through the crowd, to the very middle of the dance floor. Something about the edges made her uncomfortable. The middle seemed insulated and safe, like no one could reach them. Once they were there, Charlie pulled her in close. Too close, Eden thought, but also not nearly close enough. She pressed her forehead against Eden's, grinning widely, and started to sway her hips to the beat of the music. Eden couldn't help but smile back at her and it wasn't long before they were spinning and sweating, oblivious to everything else around them but the music.

It was almost an hour later when they decided to step outside for a breather. It was hot and sticky in the house, just like they knew it would be, even in the chilly autumn night. They sat on one of the porch railings together and drank from their water bottles, the sweat drying on their skin. They glanced at each other every one in awhile, but didn't speak.

"Hey you guys!" It was Emily, dressed as Wonder Woman. Jo was with her, wearing her regular clothes, with the small addition of fairy wings strapped to her back.

"Hey Em, hey Jo!" Eden chirped back.

"We didn't know you were going to be here," Emily smiled. "Nice costumes."

"Yeah, you too," Charlie said appreciatively. Then she turned to Jo. "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

"Tinkerbell," Jo shrugged. "Costumes are stupid."

"You could've at least slapped some glitter on or something," Charlie laughed.

"That's what I told her! Like a glitter Mohawk," Emily agreed.

"In order to have a glitter Mohawk, I'd need to have a Mohawk, which I don't, so," Jo argued.

"You could totally pull off a Mohawk. You should get one," Eden offered.

"What's with the handcuffs?" Jo asked, changing the subject when she noticed that they were chained together.

Eden gulped and glanced nervously to Charlie for help. She was obviously embarrassed about why she felt the need to handcuff herself to her roommate for the night.

"Oh, Eden's just on a power trip. She's been handcuffing me to stuff all week. She thinks it's hilarious," Charlie said, giving them a half-truth. "We were just going to head back in. Wanna come dance with us?"

Emily and Jo both agreed and they all headed back into the house together, Eden giving Charlie a grateful smile as they went.

The four of them danced in a group, Charlie spinning Eden around in circles until she was laughing hysterically. Their dance moves were rather limited by the handcuffs but neither of them minded. They were all having a great time until a guy in a Superman t-shirt came up to them and started to dance with them, quickly situating himself behind Emily.

Charlie immediately noticed how uncomfortable Emily looked. She stiffened as she watched the guy attempt to grab her by the hips. Emily moved away from him, but he just followed after her and attempted to get her to grind on him again. Charlie didn't even think about what she was doing; all she knew was that she wasn't going to let another one of her friends get harassed by some asshole. She moved forward, Eden close behind, just as she saw Emily elbow the guy and then wince in pain as he grabbed her by the upper arms. Charlie pushed in between Emily and the guy, shoving him backwards a few steps.

"Back off!" Charlie shouted at him over the music.

This only made him mad, though, and he lunged forward, making a grab for Charlie's arm. Before he could reach her though, Eden had stepped in front of her and thrown what was left of the drink in her water bottle into his face. He spluttered for a moment, wiping the liquid out of his eyes, then reemerged looking like he was ready to murder someone, heading straight for Eden.

Charlie moved back in front of Eden, ready to take the brunt of whatever this dickwad was about to do, but before he reached them, a fist came flying out of nowhere, popping him right in the nose.

It was Jo, fairy wings vibrating slightly on her back from the hit she'd just landed. She was shaking her hand out now and wincing slightly. The guy just looked stunned. Charlie couldn't blame him. She'd have been stunned too if she'd just been sucker punched by a fairy.

"We should leave now," Emily said, the first to regain some sense as she herded them all toward the door. As soon as they were a good ways away from the frat house, she looked around at them all and said, "Holy shit! That was awesome you guys!"

Charlie couldn't help but laugh aloud with relief. Her heart was still beating faster than normal from the encounter. She turned and looked at Eden, who was smiling, too.

"That felt  _good,_ " she breathed, her eyes wide with adrenaline.

"Yeah?" Charlie asked, concerned about how Eden would react to yet another asshole encounter. She cupped Eden's face and looked into her eyes, searching them for any signs fear or panic. But she only saw fire looking back at her.

"Yeah, Charlie. I'm good," Eden told her steadily. "I think that was pretty therapeutic, actually."

Charlie sighed with relief. "Your hand okay, Jo?" she asked then, looking over at the other two.

"It hurts a bit," Jo admitted. "I should probably ice it."

"Why don't we go back to our room?" Eden suggested. "Charlie's got some icepacks in her fridge."

"Can we watch  _Rocky Horror?"_ Charlie asked excitedly.

"What's that?" Jo asked, as they all headed off to Craft Hall.

"Two hours of your life that you will never get back," Eden deadpanned.

Emily laughed. "Not your cup of tea?"

"Eden thinks it's a crime against musicals," Charlie explained, as they followed along behind the other two on the sidewalk, chatting and laughing.

Eden shot her a burning look, but it wasn't her usual one of exasperation. It was the kind that made Charlie's stomach tighten in anticipation and her skin flush with heat all over her body. Unnoticed by either Jo or Emily, Eden slid the fingers of her cuffed hand into Charlie's and edged closer to her on the sidewalk. If the others hadn't been going back to the room with them, Eden wasn't sure what she would've done.


	4. November, Freshman Year

"Eden," Charlie whispered, rolling to face toward her roommate's bed in their dark dorm room.

There was a short grunt and Charlie figured that was the only response she was going to get. Still, she kept trying.

"Eden," she said again, louder this time. "Are you asleep?"

"Yes," Eden snarled in annoyance. "Just like you should be."

"But you're talking to me, so you can't be asleep," Charlie protested.

"Go to sleep, Charlotte," Eden stated. "You need to be well rested for tomorrow."

"But that's why I can't sleep," Charlie whined. "I'm too excited for the game! I have too much energy to fall asleep now."

"This may be your first  _college_ basketball game, but I know you've had games before and you must have been excited for those, too. So just do whatever you did in high school to fall asleep," Eden huffed. "You're insufferable."

Charlie laughed loudly at this suggestion. "I don't think you'd appreciate it if I did what I normally do when I can't sleep."

"Oh for pete's sake, Charlotte!" Eden exclaimed, now fully awake. She could feel her face flushing at what Charlie was obviously referring to and for a split second hoped that Charlie would not press the issue any further. Then she remembered who her roommate was. Charlie would definitely not let this subject drop now that it had been brought up.

Sure enough, Charlie continued. "Which reminds me, when the fuck are we supposed to masturbate up in here?!"

Eden let out a mortified groan and rolled on her bed until she was squished up against the wall, as far away from Charlie as she could get. Only Charlie would want to pontificate about her views on masturbation at 1:30 in the morning.

"I mean, seriously, who's bright idea was this whole dormitory situation anyway? Take a bunch of horny teenagers and twenty-somethings, pile them into tiny rooms that are stacked on top of each other and expect them to be able to accomplish higher education? They should at least give us private rooms so we can masturbate when we need to let of a little steam! Or, like, have a designated, sterilized room on every floor that was just for masturbating. Although, who am I kidding? People would just use it for sex. And all of us lonely souls would be in the same predicament."

"I'm not listening to you," Eden's voice came out muffled.

"Seriously, Eden," Charlie continued undeterred. "When do you masturbate? When I'm in my history class? During my Saturday practices? I mean, I feel like neither of us has much alone time in the room, so…I've got to be cramping your style."

"I don't," Eden said defiantly, raising her head slightly from where she had buried it between her mattress and wall.

"Edie,  _come on,"_ Charlie drawled, stretching the last two words out. "Everybody does it."

"I don't need to," Eden replied haughtily. "I'm emotionally satisfied."

"Oh my god," Charlie cackled, sitting up in her bed. "What bullshit!"

"Fine, when do you do it?" Eden asked, willing to attempt anything to make Charlie stop demanding to know her masturbation schedule. She tossed her comforter off and sat up as well. She felt like she was overheating.

It was too dark to see her, but Charlie could tell just by Eden's tone that she had crossed her arms over her chest and pursed her lips.

"When you're at church," Charlie said immediately.

Unbidden, scenarios began to play themselves out in Eden's mind of all the times she had left for church and what Charlie had apparently been doing as soon as she left. Eden couldn't help but wonder what she would have walked in on if she had forgotten her Bible one of those Sundays and had to come back to the room. The thought of her Bible was enough to bring her thoughts to a screeching halt, though. She snapped back to reality, her eyes wide, and realized that Charlie was still talking.

"In the shower," Charlie continued, "when you offer to pick up lunch for both of us, during your voice lessons…"

"Okay, that's enough information!" Eden interrupted what she was sure would have been quite the list. Now she was honestly wondering how she  _hadn't_ walked in on Charlie yet. She gulped audibly, but prayed that Charlie hadn't noticed. "I'm not sure why you're complaining. It sounds like you're doing just fine finding the time. Besides, I've never had my own room, so you should just suck it up."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You've never had your own room?" Charlie asked, flabbergasted.

"No. We live in an apartment in the Bronx, Charlotte. We're lucky to have as many rooms as we do. I've always shared with Esther."

"So?" Charlie went on in a prodding manner.

"You're not going to drop this are you?"

"Nope. How did you do it?" Charlie asked again, genuinely curious since she had always had her own bedroom. She was not going to be deterred. Not when she was this keyed up over the first basketball game the next day.

There was a long pause and Charlie was starting to wonder if Eden was going to answer at all. Finally, she sighed and said, "Very quietly."

"Okay, that's pretty hot," Charlie said, a dopey grin plastering itself on her features. She allowed herself just a moment to let her imagination run away with itself.

"Damn it, Charlie, stop picturing it! I know you're picturing it!" Eden roared, beginning to sweat.

"Right, sorry. I'm stopping," Charlie said, shaking her head a bit to clear the very enjoyable images out of her mind. "Okay, so let's talk technique."

"No! We are NOT talking technique," Eden practically screamed. "End of discussion!"

Charlie sighed loudly, but let the topic drop finally. She knew from previous conversations with Eden that she was really and truly done talking about this and any other attempts to continue the discussion would only be met with silence from the girl. Charlie may have been persuasive and single-minded, but she had met her match in Eden's unyielding stubbornness.

Silence was just beginning to settle over the room again, deepening in the space between the two girls' beds, when Charlie said, "Edie?" in a much gentler tone.

Eden recognized that Charlie was  _asking_ now rather than  _demanding_ , so she replied in an equally soft tone. "Yes, Charlie?"

"Where is Hell's Kitchen? I mean, it's not an actual kitchen. It's some kind of neighborhood, right?"

Eden couldn't help but laugh. It was Charlie's favorite laugh of Eden's, one that reminded Charlie of far off thunder when the spring storms rolled through Illinois. It was a sound that Eden was not yet familiar with, but that Charlie was sure she would never feel at home without.

"Go to sleep, Charlotte. I'll tell you tomorrow," Eden answered when the rumble of her laughter had finally subsided.

"I'll try," Charlie said. "Goodnight, Eden."

* * *

When Eden woke up the next morning she was surprised to find the room empty. Charlie  _never_ got up before she did. Yet, her bed looked like it always did when Charlie wasn't in it: blankets and sheets in such a tangle that it looked like a sea creature that Charlie had barely escaped from with her life. The only thing that betrayed Charlie's true nature was the fact that, no matter the torrential state of her blankets, Fancy the bear was always propped reverently in a seated position against her pillow, safe from any harm that might befall him.

Charlie really must be excited if she couldn't even sleep past 7:30 am, Eden thought as she got up and took a few minutes to make her bed. When the blanket was neatly tucked in and wrinkle-free, she went to pick out her outfit. Eden wanted to look a little more school-spirity than normal for the basketball game that night, so she settled on pair of light jeans, the Vallance t-shirt her Mom had bought her on move-in day, and a purple Vallance sweatshirt that had mysteriously appeared in her closet after she had mentioned in passing to Charlie that she liked it while they were perusing the bookstore the week before.

Eden knew Charlie bought it for her, of course, just like she knew Charlie sat on her bed at some point nearly every day by the mussed up blankets and rearranged pillows. Charlotte Cole was the least sneaky person Eden had ever known, and she found the quality rather endearing, so she never called her out on her obviousness for fear that Charlie might starting working a bit harder at covering her tracks.

Eden was just about to start packing her messenger bag with the books she'd need for the day when she spotted Charlie's Vallance hat hung on the doorknob of her closet. Grinning, Eden snatched it up and pushed it down on top of her curls, backwards, the way Charlie wore it.  _Now_ she was ready to cheer on the Vallance Women's Basketball Team.

It was only a few minutes later that Charlie banged in the door with a loud, "Honey, I'm home!" and a brown paper bag clutched in one of her hands.

"Where have you been?" Eden asked, moving out from behind her desk and into full view.

The noise that came out of Charlie when she took in the way Eden was dressed sounded a bit like a deflating balloon. Her eyes were a different matter, though. They reminded Eden of documentaries she had seen of hunting lions; fixed and dark and piercing. The juxtaposition of these two things made Eden feel rather unsettled. She looked down at her outfit appraisingly.

"Too much?" she asked, her eyes wide and questioning as Charlie continued to smolder.

"No," Charlie said, her voice an octave lower than normal. "You look…cute. Good. Like…"

"Your own personal cheerleader?" Eden suggested. "That's what I was going for."

Charlie beamed at her, the heat finally dissipating from her irises. "Did you make up some cheers, then?" she teased.

"Of course!" Eden said, flat out lying. She had no cheers ready.

Charlie quirked her eyebrow, and leaned back against her desk, setting down the bag she was still holding. "Let's hear one then."

"Oh, okay…" Eden said. She had not been expecting that. Her mind reeled, searching for any and all cheers she'd ever heard in her short life; a life that did not, up until this point, include a great deal of sporting events.

"I'm waiting," Charlie smirked as the seconds ticked by.

"Right," Eden stated, snapping into performance mode. She could do this.

She moved to stand in front of Charlie and put her fists on her hips in some semblance of a cheerleader stance, she hoped. Then she clapped and raised one fist in the air, fighting down a smile as Charlie's lips quirked up on one side.

"Charlie, Charlie, she's our girl!" Eden shouted.

The she put in another single clap and lifted her other fist into the air.

"If she can't do it, I'm gonna…hurl!" Eden finished. She'd never been very good at improv.

Charlie burst out laughing, falling forward and only just catching herself with her hands on her knees. The sound of Charlie's laugh was quickly becomes one of Eden's favorite noises in the world. It reminded her of wind chimes and watching black and white movies on summer nights.

"That is the greatest cheer I've ever heard," Charlie wheezed out after her laughter had, for the most part, subsided.

But when she straightened back up and met Eden's eyes with her own, they had turned serious suddenly.

"What?" Eden asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Charlie just shook her head gently. "You have no idea how fantastic you are."

There was a long pause during which Eden's stomach flip-flopped wildly, as if often did when Charlie said things like that or looked at her the way she was now, like there was nothing else worthy of her attention.

"And for the record," Charlie added, "you look really,  _really_ good in my hat. You should wear it more often."

Eden watched as Charlie continued to observe her, licking her lips subconsciously and slipping back into the stance of a prowling lion. This sort of thing was happening more and more often lately; Charlie would say something sweet or sexy and then they would stare at each other with such intensity that Eden was sure one of them would simply burst into flames one of these days.

Eden wasn't stupid. She knew what was happening between them, or rather, what  _would_ be happening between them if she let it. But every Sunday she went to church and was inundated with people and pamphlets and deities that were telling her that what she was beginning to feel for Charlie  _wrong_  and  _unnatural_  and while she couldn't be blamed for the feelings because Satan tempted everyone, she had to fight it and not give in. She was not supposed to act on that thing that felt like a serpent coiling low in her belly. Every Sunday she got back to the dorm with a renewed since of duty to reestablish the line between she and her roommate, and then every week Charlie wore her down with her smile, her laugh, the little notes she left to tell Eden where she was going, and the way she hummed Top 40 hits off-key while they studied. It was a struggle that Eden feared she was losing and feared the consequences of losing even more. So she kept rebuilding her crumbling defenses and did what she could to make sure the levees around her heart would not break completely when the next wave of temptation rolled over her.

Today was not the day for fire and brimstone or the spontaneous combustion games that she and Charlie were forever playing. Today Charlie had a basketball game to play in. So, Eden turned her head away with great effort and cleared her throat loudly.

"So what's in the bag?" Eden asked, in as casual an air as she could muster.

"Breakfast!" Charlie replied, grabbing the bag again and unpacking a half dozen items. "I had something I wanted to talk to you about so I thought we could, you know, discuss it over breakfast."

"Is this about Hell's Kitchen, again? I already told you, I'll tell you where it is later."

"No, it's not that," Charlie said, and Eden thought she sounded nervous now. "Here, let's sit down."

Charlie shoved a bagel with strawberry cream cheese, a banana, and a bottle of apple juice into Eden's arms and then moved past her to sit on Eden's bed, flopping down harder than was necessary.

Eden rolled her eyes at Charlie's Poptarts, Fruit Rollup, and liter of Mountain Dew, but for once didn't scold her about her poor nutritional habits; she was too curious about what Charlie wanted to talk to her about.

It was a testament to how nervous Charlie was feeling that she ate both of her Poptarts and then chugged down half of her Mountain Dew before she spoke again. Eden waited patiently for her to say something, munching happily on her bagel and trying not to put too much stock in the fact that Charlie knew what her favorite flavor of cream cheese was and that she would always rather have apple juice than orange.

"So you're sure they don't need you at rehearsal tonight? I mean, if you need to be there, I would understand. Opening night is only like 5 days away, so—"

"Charlotte," Eden said, reaching her hand out and grasping Charlie's wrist, "literally nothing is going to keep me from your basketball game tonight."

Charlie nodded firmly.

"I'll be there with bells on," Eden added as an afterthought, smiling. She'd always liked that expression.

"Okay, well, in that case, uh…so, the older girls. On the team—my basketball team," Charlie explained needlessly but adorably.

"I understand," Eden said reassuringly, stroking the inside of Charlie's wrist in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

"Right, uh…"Charlie stammered. The wrist stroking seemed to have struck her temporarily dumb. She was just staring at Eden's hand and gulping a lot.

Eden decided it was best to stop the stroking, but didn't feel it was necessary to let go completely. "Charlie?" she said, pulling her roommate's attention back to her face.

"Sorry!" Charlie said, her head snapping back up. "Where was I? Oh, right. The older girls told me that the first two rows of bleachers in the Field House are sort of unofficially reserved for, you know, family of the team who are visiting, or like, um, boyfriends or…or girlfriends or just like really close friends of the players," Charlie stuttered out, blushing more fiercely than Eden had ever seen before and picking at some lint on the sweatpants she was wearing. "I…I just wanted to tell you in case you wanted to…I mean…I was  _hoping_ that you'd sit there. For me."

Eden's heart was beating very quickly and she was finding it hard to speak. Her mind was telling her that she should politely decline and tell Charlie that area didn't seem like the appropriate place for her to sit. But her heart, well, it was starting to feel like a piece of beach glass, its jagged edges being smoothed into submission by the waves of desire that Charlie sent crashing over her.

She felt a little sheepish as she replied, because, holey moley, was Charlie asking her to sit in a special section of the bleachers, or was she asking her  _something else entirely?_  Blood was thundering in her ears now. Eden needed to pull herself together before she passed out.

"I'd be happy to sit there," Eden eventually responded. Her heart had stopped her from refusing, but her brain had significantly tampered the enthusiasm of her assent.

Only then did Charlie look up from where her eyes were trained on her fidgeting fingers. She was grinning so broadly it looked painful. Without thinking about it, Eden reached out and cupped Charlie's face, running her thumb soothingly along the strained apple of her cheek. As soon as she registered what she was doing –how adoring and tender the gesture was – she jerked her hand back, laughing nervously.

"Sorry," she muttered.

The moment lapsed quickly into awkward silence and Charlie began shoveling inch after inch of her Fruit Rollup into her mouth until she could barely speak.

"Cool," Charlie mumbled through the processed food.

Eden just rolled her eyes, got up, and gathered her books together.

As Eden bid goodbye to Charlie and hurried out of the room before she could do anything else stupid (like stroking another part of her roommate's body), she replayed every bit of the interaction between them in her mind. The more Eden thought about it, the more she felt like she'd just laid some sort of claim to Charlotte Cole by agreeing to sit in the reserved rows at the game that night. And for some reason, that thought made her feel like fireworks were going off inside of her. She may or may not have squealed half way down the stairs.

* * *

It was Friday, one of Eden's heavier days of classes, so she wouldn't be seeing Charlie again until the game that night. Normally, they would have dinner together, but as it was a game day, Charlie had a team dinner to attend.

Not wanting to eat alone, Eden sent a text to Emily and Jo after her morning class to see if they wanted to join her for dinner and the game afterwards. They both agreed and Eden was glad to know that Charlie would have a couple more people in the stands cheering for her that night. It wasn't until that thought crossed her mind that she wondered if Emily and Jo were even  _allowed_ to sit with her in the first two rows. Rather than worry about it all day, which is what she would have done, Eden decided to run it by Charlie and see what the rules were.

EDEN: I have a question about tonight that I'd like to discuss with you.

CHARLIE: waddup lambchop?

EDEN: Why do always call me Lambchop in text messages?

CHARLIE: that rly wut u want to ask?

EDEN: No. And you sound like a Neanderthal when you text like that, Charlotte, really.

CHARLIE: My deepest, most sincere apologies, my dear Lambchop. What is it that I can do for you on this fine autumn day? As always, I'll overlook the fact that you just insulted me and risk expulsion from Vallance to converse with you secretly whilst I am in class.

EDEN: You're mocking me.

CHARLIE: wuuuutttttttttttt no way

EDEN: Emily and Jo would like to come to your game tonight. But I was unsure if they were allowed to join me in the first two rows of the bleachers. You made it seem like it was a very select group that occupied the area.

CHARLIE: guuuud question. will report back.

CHARLIE: u still wearin my hat?

EDEN: yerp. i ware yo hat all day.

EDEN: See how obnoxious that is?

CHARLIE: woman! if u dont stop sassing me i'm gonna use nuthin but emoticons.

EDEN: I apologize.

CHARLIE: I conferd w/ my elders. they are allowd in the bleachers WITH YOU. but cant sit there by themselves.

EDEN: Interesting.

CHARLIE: ?

EDEN: See you tonight. I'll be the one in your hat.

The day seemed to fly by after that. Eden got quite a few compliments on her new look during her classes that day, but none of them made her feel light-headed the way Charlie's hungry stare had. If Eden was honest with herself, even texting with Charlie made her heart accelerate slightly. But perhaps that was with annoyance from her infernal text speak.

* * *

"You look like the bookstore threw up on you," Jo said the moment she appeared in front of Eden, where she had been waiting for her friends outside of the cafeteria.

Emily was close behind her. "You definitely look ready for this basketball game," she smiled. Her eyes lingered a little longer on Charlie's hat, her eyes narrowing a touch, like she was filing away the fact that Eden was wearing it to consider later.

"Charlie is my roommate," Eden said, her lips pursed defiantly. "I have to show my support."

Eden had decided not to go into too much detail with them about Charlie's stammered invitation that seemed more like a level 1 clearance card into the girl's heart. She decided she wanted to keep that side of Charlie all to herself.

"Let's eat already," Emily stated, taking the lead and entering the cafeteria first. "I'm starving."

Dinner was a very pleasant affair, but Eden couldn't help but notice that she laughed a lot less without Charlie there. She was only half invested in the conversation they were having at the table. The other half of her mind was wondering if Charlie was eating enough vegetables and not just carb-loading.

As if in response to her worry, Eden's phone chimed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that it was a text.

CHARLIE: brussel sprouts b nasty

Eden ended up smiling so widely that Emily and Jo both stopped talking about what they still needed to finish on the set for the  _The King and I_ before dress rehearsal on Monday and stared at her until she noticed them.

"Charlie is eating vegetables," she explained. As if that was a reason for such jubilation.

Emily glanced at the hat again, her eyes seeming to come to some kind of silent conclusion, because they softened and she laughed appreciatively. "A minor miracle!"

* * *

Currently, Charlie was walking back to campus with the rest of her team from the Italian restaurant they had met at for their team dinner. Her head was hanging down, staring determinedly at the sidewalk that was slipping by under her feet, her hands shoved in to the pockets of her Vallance warm up suit. She had texted Eden in an attempt to distract herself from her nerves, but now she was waiting for a response, and she was nervous that Eden wouldn't respond. Damn it all.

Normally, Charlie wouldn't be nervous. She was good at basketball. Really good. But she was the only freshman that was starting in this game and she was feeling a lot of pressure to be on top of her game. And it was the first game of the season and her first college game ever. And maybe Charlie was freaking out just a bit internally. On the outside she was pulling off a sort of brooding, intense focus. If only Eden were there, scolding her about her grammar. That would take her mind off of everything. Since she couldn't have Eden there with her, Charlie settled for daydreaming about how ridiculously sexy Eden had looked wearing her hat that morning. Honestly, Charlie had nearly creamed herself when she had walked in with breakfast and saw Eden looking like her goddamn wet dream. And then that cheer? Jeez. She was done for, she really was. The longer they lived together, Charlie's list of reasons to not just go for it was getting shorter and shorter. At this point is was down to two main points:

1\. They were roommates for another 7 months and if anything went wrong they would be stuck together and miserable.

2\. What if Eden didn't feel the same way?

Most of the time— alright _, some of the time—_ Charlie was sure that Eden felt something for her other than friendship. Like on Halloween when she had barely let go of Charlie's hand the entire night. But other days, usually Sunday nights, Eden would treat her with such indifference as she spent hours working furiously on her homework that Charlie's confidence slipped away into nothingness. Those nights there was such a sadness, such a chill, that emanated from her roommate that Charlie wasn't sure Eden would ever look at her with that warmth that made her heart pound, or that she ever had. Charlie couldn't remember life ever being such a confusing rollercoaster. She was scared to move either way.

The team was just getting back to campus when Charlie's phone buzzed with an incoming text message.

EDEN: Don't be nervous. You're going to be amazing.

Charlie chuckled as she read. Eden knew her so well. It had only been 3 months and already Charlie couldn't imagine a world without Eden Renmark. Her phone buzzed again and Charlie glanced back at the screen clutched in her palm. The message she read had her stomach twisting nervously for reasons that had nothing to do with basketball.

EDEN: You are already are.

* * *

The game didn't start until 7 pm, but Eden wanted to be there early.

"I don't get what the big deal is or  _why_ we need to be there early," Jo huffed. "I hadn't finished my pie yet!"

Eden had announced they needed to leave, immediately, when Jo was only two bites into her pie. Then she'd gathered everyone's dishes for them and deposited them on the conveyor belt in the small room off the kitchen that took them into be washed before the other two could stop her.

Now Eden was marching them across campus towards the Field House, determined to be seated by 6:30, which was when Charlie had told her they team would start warming up.

"Jo," Eden said, "you're gay, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…wait, how did you know that?" Jo asked. She hadn't actually come out to many people on campus yet.

Eden just raised an eyebrow and gave her a pointed look, as if that answered any question she could have about knowing about her sexuality. Jo just stared back at her.

"Gaydar?" Eden tried, shrugging her shoulders.

"No, come on. Just say it. You made an assumption based on my appearance," Jo bit out. The air between them changed dramatically, shifting from a companionable warmth to a palpable chill. Jo had stopped walking at this point, glaring at Eden who had also come to a stop. "You think just because I don't wear makeup and I dress in what's traditionally a more masculine manner that you can just assume you know everything about me?"

Eden felt like she was deflating. Jo was right. She had looked at the way that Jo dressed and the way she wore her hair and she had labeled her without giving it a second thought. "You're right," Eden admitted.

"Well that's really fucking rude," Jo said in an even tone. "The only person you're allowed to label is yourself. And you're only exposing your own prejudices when you judge someone else for what they look like."

Tears were starting to prick Eden's eyes. "I'm so sorry if you felt like…like I was judging you. I wasn't! I don't care if you're gay. But I shouldn't have…I've never been close to anyone before who wasn't just  _straight_ and here at Vallance…it's like everyone is something different. There's all these words floating around I've never even heard before and well, it's a lot to take in. I don't know exactly…how I'm supposed to approach the subject."

The speech felt like a sad excuse even to Eden, so she wasn't surprised when Jo shook her head.

"It's not that hard, Eden. You just ask and be respectful," Jo said.

"Jo, come on, calm down," Emily said, speaking up finally. She moved to put a hand on Jo's shoulder, but the other girl shrugged it off.

"No!" Jo said angrily. "I'm tired of people putting me into a box just because it makes them more comfortable. I have to deal with this shit enough when I'm at home. I thought it would be different here. "

"I know, but I really don't think that was Eden's intention," Emily commented, trying to placate her friend.

Eden had fucked up, big time, and she knew it. If there was a time for a big gesture, now was it, she decided. So she ran forward and dropped to her knees in front of Jo.

"I am so sorry! It's not an excuse, but, I obviously still have a lot to learn," Eden implored, her hands clasped in front of her as she looked up at Jo, sincerity coating her features. "Please forgive me!"

"Are you serious right now?" Jo said, looking quite bewildered now that Eden was on the ground at her feet.

Emily was using all her willpower to not laugh now that they situation had taken a ridiculous turn, even if Eden hadn't meant it to come off that way.

"I'm completely serious!" Eden exclaimed. "Please give me a second chance! I don't want to lose your friendship."

Passers-by were giving them strange looks now. Eden was being very loud.

"What were you even getting at then?" Jo asked.

"W…when?" Eden said, not sure what Jo was referring to now.

"When you said I was gay," Jo answered.

"Oh, that," Eden responded, her face wrinkling with guilt. "I was just going to make the case that, if you are, in fact, attracted to women, then opposing our early arrival to the basketball game so that we could watch the beautiful women athletes stretch and warm up didn't make much sense."

Emily couldn't hold it in any longer; she burst out laughing, the sound echoing off the student union behind them in the settling dusk. Jo just continued to stare at Eden for a few seconds before she started shaking her head again. Then a small chuckle escaped her mouth and it snowballed until she was full out laughing, clutching at her stomach, with tears streaming down her face.

"Okay," Jo said eventually, her breathing returning to normal. "Eden, get up."

"Are we still friends?" Eden asked, clambering onto her feet again.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Jo said, pulling Eden into a hug that she returned gratefully. "Just don't slap labels onto other people, okay?"

"Got it," Eden said, nodding firmly.

"Now, let's go watch those beautiful female athletes warm up," Emily said grinning.

* * *

The Douglas Field House was one of the largest buildings on campus. It housed the fitness center, weight room, several basketball courts, and a large indoor track as well as some offices and even a few classrooms. The three girls arrived and made their way down the main hallway until the reached the basketball court that had its doors flung open. Eden could hear the sound of basketballs bouncing, tennis shoes squeaking, and people shouting back and forth to each other before they'd even gone inside.

All three girls came to stop just inside the doors as Eden looked around for the section of the bleachers she was supposed to be sitting in. The team was already out on the court, doing different drills and warming up for the game. There were quite a few of them, though, so Eden didn't immediately spot Charlie.

Charlie had seen them enter, however, because she appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, jogging directly over to Eden with a look of deep concern etched on to her face.

Eden turned away from where she was scanning the bleachers when she caught someone moving towards her in her peripheral vision and her eyes fell on Charlie making her way over to them. Before this exact moment in time, Eden had never been someone who had ever been completely overcome with lust. But she was also someone who, until that moment, had never seen Charlotte Cole in full basketball gear before.

Charlie had on her purple Vallance jersey, number 15, with COLE printed across her back. The shorts all the girls were wearing were adorned with a yellow Viper, Vallance's mascot, wrapping around one of the legs. Everyone had matching purple Nikes on as well, with yellow laces and the trademark swoosh standing out against the darker body of the shoe.

Charlie looked incredible. Her arms were toned and the tendons and muscles in her legs stood out in sharp relief as she jogged over to Eden. She had a light sheen of sweat on her skin and her green eyes were sharp and focused. What really did Eden in, however, was her hair. Most of the time Charlie wore her hair down and it was something like a cascading waterfall of brown waves. When she needed it out of her way, she put in back in a loose bun, which was usually how it looked when she came back from practice. Tonight, however, she had it in a ponytail. And dear Lord, it was literally the sexiest thing Eden had ever seen, swinging like a pendulum behind Charlie's head as she moved.

Eden felt like every organ, every function, every system in her body slowed to a complete stop and then  _slammed_ back into life in overdrive. Her heart was racing. She was out of breath. Goosebumps erupted across her skin. And every single drop of blood in her body rushed to her center until it was a heady, un-ignorable throb between her legs.

"Oh no," Eden let out an almost inaudible whisper, fearing that she was going to melt into a pool of arousal as Charlie came to a stop in front of her.

If it wasn't clear before, it most certainly was now. Eden  _wanted_  Charlie. For sex. She wasn't even really sure how that would go, but it made her blush even admitting it to herself so blatantly. But, sweet Jesus, she did. Maybe multiple times. Maybe hard. Definitely while grabbing onto that glorious ponytail. There was no point in denying it any longer.

"Eden," Charlie was speaking directly to her, staring her straight in the eyes. "Eden?"

Eden blinked rapidly several times and let out a shaky breath. "Yes, hi….Charlie."

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked, the concern still evident on her face. "You look like you've been crying."

"Oh," Eden said, coming out of her haze of arousal, and bringing a hand up to wipe at her cheeks. "I was kind of an ignorant bitch on the way over here, but not to worry, I'm reforming."

Charlie gave her a very confused look and her hands twitched in Eden's direction for a moment, as if she was going to reach out and take the girl into her arms. She must have thought better of it, though, because she reached behind her head instead, and tightened her ponytail.

Eden's jaw actually dropped as she unabashedly stared.

Emily cleared her throat to Eden's left and said, "We should probably go find our seats."

"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said, tearing her eyes away from Eden finally. "I've gotta finish warming up. I'm so glad you guys came! We should all hang out after. Grab some food or something."

"Definitely," Jo agreed while Emily nodded.

Eden had a barely suppressed look of adoration on her face.

"The, uh, section I told you about is right over there," Charlie said in a quieter tone, pointing out the section to Eden specifically.

"Then that's where we'll be," Eden smiled. Then she stepped forward and leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to Charlie's cheek and whispered, "Good luck, Charlie," before hurrying off with the others to take her seat.

Charlie jogged back onto the court, her face very red. Several of her teammates threw various catcalls in her direction.

"Damn Cole," Abby, the team captain teased as she re-entered the warm-up drills. "So that's your girl, huh?"

"She's just my roommate," Charlie replied stiffly.

"Right," Abby replied with a smirk.

"Shut up and pass me the ball," Charlie quipped, shaking off what had just happened so she could get her normal, cocky game face on. She couldn't help smiling, though.

* * *

When the game started, Eden got her first real taste of Charlie the athlete and she was in no way disappointed. Charlie was a shooting guard, which, she often reminded Eden, was the same position that Michael Jordan played. Every time Charlie even touched the ball Eden jumped up, screaming and clapping, and Charlie threw her a grin a few times as she hustled back and forth across the court.

As the game went on, Eden noticed that Charlie was good at dribbling and passing. Her defense was pretty solid as well and she was able to steal the ball from the opposing team at the end of the first quarter, which turned out to be an important turn around for Vallance as they pulled ahead. Where Charlie really shone, however, was her shooting. She'd sunk seven three-point shots and dozen other two-pointers by the time the coach took her out a few minutes into the third period. Charlie flopped down on the bench at the side of the court when she was subbed out, covered in sweat, and draped a towel over her head before she turned around to catch Eden's eye.

The guy next to her, a senior Eden had seen around campus, noticed her shoot Charlie a thumb's up and spoke up.

"Here for Cole, huh?" he said, motioning towards her with a curt nod.

"Yes," Eden said proudly. "She's my…Charlie."

"Nice," he said smiling warmly. "She's pretty damn good for a freshman. How long's she been playing?"

"She started playing on a team when she was 12," Eden said, grinning over the fact that she knew the answer to his question.

"Solid. I'm Greg by the way," he said, offering Eden his hand. "Abby Rodriguez, number 30, she's my girlfriend."

"Oh! Abby's the team captain!" Eden said in recognition as she shook Greg's hand. "Charlie's mentioned her. She's very good."

Greg smiled at Eden's comment. "I imagine we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other this winter," he grinned.

"Yes, we will," Eden agreed, grinning back.

It was official. Basketball was Eden's favorite sport.

* * *

The following week it was Eden's turn to be a nervous wreck, though not for the reasons she was expecting.

As always, Eden woke up early on Sunday. She picked out a dress, put on her makeup, grabbed her coat, and slipped quietly out of the room, trying not to wake Charlie on her way to church.

Eden liked the walk across town. She usually stopped a coffee shop on her way and got a Mocha. Then she would cut across the park and town square, taking her time and stepping on as many crunchy leaves as possible while she sipped her drink. Eden liked to be awake early because it made her feel like the whole world was laid out in front of her and all she had to do was take it.

Despite her increasing guilt over her feelings for Charlie, Eden always entered the church with her spirits high and hopeful that maybe  _this Sunday_  she would find some peace over what was happening inside of her. Perhaps one of the Bible passages read during the service would help her make sense out of the nagging worry that was prickling the in the back of her mind telling her that something was desperately wrong with her. Or, even better, a well-worded prayer might make all the feelings in her heart just miraculously disappear.

When Eden had begun coming to Solomon's Lutheran Church, she had been very chatty and greeted everyone she came across. She'd made it a point to arrive early so she could do just that and get to know the members of the church. Now, she waited until the last minute before hurrying into the sanctuary, slipping quietly into the back row, and bracing herself for verbal lashing her conscience was about to receive.

The service started easily enough. Reverend Marshall stood up, greeted the congregation and made several announcements about upcoming events. Then they sang some hymns, which was easily Eden's favorite part. No matter what else was going on in her life, singing never failed to put a smile on Eden's face. She leaned her head back, closed her eyes, and let the words she had memorized long ago flow out of her with ease. Next was the scripture reading. Sometimes Reverend Marshall would read from the Bible himself, other times he asked someone from the congregation to do the readings.

This Sunday, an older woman named Doris Boetcher was doing the reading. She got to her feet and tottered up to the pulpit, opening her ancient Bible.

"This morning's reading," she spoke into the microphone, "is from the book of Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 1 through 7. Please open your Bibles and follow along with me."

Doris took a moment to clear her throat and wait for those with Bibles to open them and find the passage. Eden physically braced herself, wrapping her hands around the edge of the pew she was seated on, her entire body tensed as if for an attack. She hadn't opened her Bible since Halloween, and it seemed to be silently mocking her as it sat, heavy as brick, in her lap. She pointedly ignored it as her knuckles turned white against the pew.

_"Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God._

_But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them."_

As Doris read, Eden began to shake uncontrollably and shift in her seat. She released her grip on the pew and nervously began to fidget with her coat, which she'd never taken off. Reverend Marshall  _knew._ He had to know—about Charlie, about how much she'd been thinking about her lately, and the  _way_ she'd been thinking of her. These Bible verses were  _for her._ They had to be. Beads of sweat broke out across Eden's forehead and her shaking intensified. Everyone was  _looking_  at her, judging her. Weren't they? It felt like they were. That man in the front row was definitely looking at her, Eden thought as she frantically scanned the congregation. She couldn't stand it anymore. Eden scooped up her Bible and practically ran out of the sanctuary, only stopping to catch her breath when she was two blocks away from the church.

Eden walked the rest of the way to her dorm as if in a trance, only snapping out of it when a car almost hit her as she crossed the street back onto the campus. She still felt ill and shaky and thought maybe she would lay down for a little while. There was no way Charlie would be awake yet since she was coming home almost 45 minutes earlier than normal.

Looking back on what happened next, Eden should have known better. She should have seen it coming. Charlie  _told her_ what she did when Eden was at church. But Eden wasn't thinking about that. She was too preoccupied with the sinking feeling that her soul was going to end up in Hell for all eternity. So when she reached her bedroom door, habit took hold, and Eden slipped her key in the lock and opened it as quietly as possible. Force of habit told her to do this because Charlie would be asleep.

But Charlie was not sleeping. At all. Eden froze, the door cracked open just enough for her to see inside, for her to take in the scene in front of her. Charlie was on her back, sweatpants and underwear pushed down around her ankles. The fingers of one hand were buried between her legs and the fingers of the other were working tight, jerky circles around her clit. Her face was scrunched up in pleasure, breathy moans escaping from her opening mouth. And before Eden could close the door, could look away, Charlie's back had arched up off the bed, all other movement, save the movement of one hand, screeching to a halt as her orgasm hit.

It was like a car crash. Eden couldn't look away. She took in every beautiful detail—from the way Charlie wrinkled her nose as she came to the curling of her toes against the sheets beneath her. Only when Charlie had completely relaxed against the mattress again was Eden able to ease the door closed, being careful to make no noise. And then Eden ran, all the way across campus, heart ripping apart in her chest for a million reasons, the image of Charlie coming burned into her retinas for all eternity.

* * *

Eden was a coward. She knew that. She hid in the rehearsal rooms in the music wing of the Lincoln Center all day playing the piano. She even taught herself how to play Missy Higgin's  _Blind Winter_ from memory. It took her several hours to work it all out. Charlie called her several times, but Eden couldn't bring herself to answer. She was sure her voice would betray her and Charlie would know what had happened. More than anything else she was feeling, Eden was most consumed by guilt for watching, for not closing the door and walking away as soon she realized what Charlie was doing. It was a private moment and Eden had no business watching. What was wrong with her? How could she have just stood there and watched as Charlie climaxed? There was definitely something wrong with her, Eden decided. Only someone seriously disturbed would do that to their best…roommate-friend- person. She felt dirty. If she'd had the courage to go back to the dorm, she would have taken a long, scalding shower until she was sure every skin cell that had been on her body while she'd watched was gone. And what made it all worse was that as guilty as she felt, she was sure that if she dipped her hand into her own underwear, she would find them soaking wet from how turned on she'd been at seeing Charlie touch herself.

It was after 7 o'clock that night when Eden finally dragged herself out of the Lincoln Center and put her phone up to ear.

"Hey," the voice on the other end of the phone answered after the third ring.

"Hi," Eden said, trying to keep her voice steady, but failing.

"You okay? Charlie's been looking for you. She called a couple hours ago, asking if I'd seen you," Jo said, concern apparent in her voice.

"No, I…I don't think I am okay," Eden answered tentatively, feeling like she might start crying at any moment. "Would it be okay if I came over? I can't go back to my room yet."

"Yeah, of course," Jo responded.

"I'll see you in a few," Eden said and hung up.

* * *

Jo lived in Berlin, one of the co-ed dorms in the quad. Eden was glad for this because it meant she didn't have to pass anywhere close to Craft Hall to get to her room. Jo met her at the door of the dorm and they walked slowly up the stairs together, Eden wiping a few stray tears off her face as they went.

Jo's bedroom was different than Eden thought it would be. Jo was a very private person, and, at least so far, had not exactly projected much warmth. She was friendly enough, but Eden wasn't expecting such a cheery, cozy bedroom. Jo's bed was covered with what looked like a homemade, well-loved quilt and about a dozen plump pillows. Her bookshelves were full, not with books, but with DVD sets of all of her favorite shows. Eden recognized  _Grey's Anatomy, Fringe,_ something called  _Warehouse 13_ that she wasn't familiar with, and much to her surprise, the entirety of _The Muppet Show._ The walls were covered not with posters, the way most college students walls were, but with several large collage frames filled with what Eden thought must have been over 50 family photographs. On the ceiling, Jo had tacked up a beautiful blue and green cloth that had moons and stars scattered over its surface, which swooped downwards from the ceiling in a way that made her side of the room look like the inside of a tent. It was lovely.

Jo sat down on the bed and nestled herself in to some of the soft pillows, motioning for Eden to do the same.

"I like your room," Eden said as she eased herself on the bed and curled into some of the pillows on the opposite end of the bed that Jo was sitting on.

'Thanks," Jo said smiling. "I hope you don't mind, but I texted Charlie, just to tell her you were okay. She was really worried about you."

"No, I don't mind. Thanks."

"So you kind of went MIA today," Jo observed, pulling out a packet of M&Ms from the top drawer of the dresser next to her bed and tossing it to Eden.

"Can I ask you something?" Eden asked after eating a few of the chocolate candies.

"Sure," Jo answered, ripping into her own packet of candy.

"How did you know…you were gay?" Eden said.

Jo looked over at her, considering Eden's posture before she answered. She looked like she was expecting Jo to reach over and slap her; her face pinched and worried. "Well, when I was in 6th grade I had a giant crush on my best friend, Vanessa. My Aunt Shirley sort of brought it to my attention," Jo said carefully, trying not to spook Eden, who looked skittish enough already.

"What did your parents think when you told them?" Eden asked, her body coiled as tightly as a cornered snake.

"I never came out to my Mom," Jo said honestly. She didn't usually talk about the personal details of her life, but she could tell Eden needed to have this conversation, and she had a feeling she was struggling with her own sexuality from the questions she was asking. "She died when I was 15."

Eden was openly crying now, for Jo and for herself. "That's so sad," she whispered.

"It was, yeah. I miss her. A lot," Jo said and was quiet for a few moments before she went on. "My dad was, well, he struggled with it for a while, I guess. But he told me that he loved me no matter what. It was just me and him then, so I think the thought of losing me scared him more than having a lesbian for a daughter did."

Eden listened closely to everything Jo said, finding some comfort in her words. "Did you ever feel like there was something wrong with you? Because you like girls?"

"Sort of," Jo told her, tilting her head as she considered her answer. "I was scared to tell my Dad because I was worried he might not love me anymore. So on some level I must have thought it was a bad thing. But I don't think that anymore."

"I ran out of church today," Eden confessed. "I used to love church. Now…now I feel like some kind of leper when I'm there."

"You could try a different church?" Jo suggested. "Maybe you'd feel more accepted going somewhere else."

"Maybe," Eden said nodding. She hadn't considered that before even though she was well aware that even amongst the Protestant churches, people were very split on their views of homosexuality. "Jo, do you believe in God?"

"No, not really," Jo shrugged.

"What  _do_  you believe in?"

Jo thought about her answer for several minutes before she finally answered Eden. "My mom was a nurse. She took care of a lot of people who were sick or dying and she told me that she learned more from those people than she ever did in school. She used to say, 'Josephine, you are a human being capable of infinite tenderness. You have to be fearless but gentle.' I think that's as close as I've ever gotten to spiritual beliefs."

After a few more questions, their conversation petered out to things as mundane as classes, professors, and what they thought their first college finals would be like. Eden never outright told Jo that she was wrestling with her sexuality because of how she felt about Charlie, but she was pretty sure Jo knew what was going on. And if she didn't, she seemed to know not to ask. Eden was feeling a little more like herself an hour later and so after she had worked her courage up, she headed back to her room for the night.

* * *

Charlie had no idea what was going on. She'd been worried sick for most of the day when Eden hadn't showed up after church and didn't answer her phone any of the five times that Charlie called her. It was only after Jo sent her a text, telling her that Eden was okay and was coming over to her room, that Charlie calmed down enough to do anything other than pace back and forth in front of her bed.

Eden was, without a doubt, the most complicated person she'd ever met. She never knew exactly where she stood with her roommate, but that didn't keep the crush Charlie had on her from growing by the hour. Eden was wonderful even was she was confusing the hell out of her or disappearing completely.

After hearing from Jo, Charlie decided to do something productive. She grabbed a paper sack from under her bed and headed out onto campus. For almost a month now, Charlie had been collecting buckeyes. She knew where all the best spots were to find them. Tonight she decided to hit up the tree that was over by the library, which closed early on Sunday nights. Charlie had found that it was best if she could collect them when there weren't many people around because she could take as much time as she needed to without getting in anyone's way. She found about 20 buckeyes that weren't squishy or scratched and placed each of them safely into her bag before swinging by The Corn Husk, the small fast food restaurant in the student union, and grabbing something to eat. On her way back to the room, stomach growling in anticipation of the burger and fries she was about to eat, Charlie decided that with this last batch of buckeyes she finally had enough.

* * *

Charlie had a slice of tomato hanging halfway out of her mouth when Eden walked into the room, eyes cast down at the floor, purposefully avoiding Charlie as she set her purse down and hung up her coat in the closet.

Normally, if Charlie was in the room, Eden would leave her closet doors slightly open and change her clothes behind one of them in an effort to preserve her modesty and avoid any undue temptation. But tonight she felt like the least she could do to even the score between she and Charlie was to change into her pajamas in plain view. Even if Charlie didn't know why she was doing it yet.

Eden had her back to Charlie, struggling to get the zipper of her dress down, but it seemed to be stuck. She had just huffed and slumped her shoulders in frustrations when she felt Charlie step up behind her, tug gently at the fabric of her dress, and then lower the zipper. She didn't say anything and as soon as the zipper was lowered completely, Eden felt her presence, and the warmth that came with it, move away again.

Eden shrugged her dress off, then moved over to her dresser wearing just her underwear and pulled out a pair of pajamas. She steeled herself for what she was about to do, and finally turned and met Charlie's eyes. Charlie was doing something on her laptop, but when Eden looked at her, she quickly set it aside.

"Rough day?" Charlie asked, being sure to keep her tone even. She didn't want to seem clingy.

Rather than answer immediately, Eden reached behind her, keeping her eyes locked to Charlie's, and unhooked her bra. When Charlie realized what she was doing, her eyes widened almost comically. She tried to keep her eyes locked to Eden's, but as the gorgeous girl in front of her pulled her bra off her body, Charlie couldn't help herself. Her eyes slid down, taking in the sight of Eden's bare breasts for the first time.

"Oh…my...god," Charlie whispered, blatantly staring at Eden's body. "Eden what…"

"I came home early from church this morning," Eden said boldly, considering the fact that she was topless. She had considered whether or not to come clean with Charlie all day long, but in the end, Eden knew she had to be honest or the guilt would eat her alive. Charlie had managed to tear her eyes away Eden's tits, and was breathing heavily as she held eye contact with her roommate now. "I saw you masturbating and I…didn't close the door as quickly as I should have."

"You mean you watched," Charlie said, unable to keep a small smirk off of her face.

Eden ignored the comment and moved forward with the speech she had rehearsed. "Now that I've shown you my breasts, I hope we can call it even and move forward in our…cohabitation."

Charlie was smiling like Christmas had come early, eyes back on Eden's chest again. "I  _wholeheartedly_ accept your apology," she said giddily. "And can I just say, WOW."

"Alright, easy there, tiger," Eden said, torn between embarrassment and delight, as she pulled her pajama top on at last.

After she had her pants on, Eden strode over to desk and pulled out a notebook and pencil. Then sat herself down next to a Charlie on her bed, and set to work sketching a rough map out on the paper in front of her.

"So," Eden said, pulling Charlie out of her awestruck daze, and pointing out each area as she spoke. "New York City is made up of five boroughs—Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Hell's Kitchen is a neighborhood in Manhattan that sits right here," Eden explained, beginning to sketch a more detailed version of the specific area, "Between 34th Street and 59th Street in the north and south, 8th Avenue on the east border, and the Hudson River is the west border."

* * *

Opening night for  _The King and I_ had arrived at last and Eden was more excited than she could ever remember being. Granted, it was a Wednesday night, so the turn out probably wouldn't be too high. The larger crowds always showed up on the weekend. Eden didn't care, though. She was over the moon anytime she got to be on stage. And this was  _college theatre,_ so it was kind of a big deal.

Since she had smoothed things over with Charlie on Sunday night, Eden was in great spirits. She was still struggling with reconciling her feelings for Charlie with what she had been told about homosexuality growing up in the church, but she'd made a deal with herself to set it aside for the week and just be happy about her Vallance stage debut.

* * *

Charlie's basketball practice had run late that night. The coach had thought the girls were goofing off a bit too much, so she had them run extra drills for half and hour before sending them off to hit the showers.

Charlie couldn't believe it.  _Of course_  they would be kept late on the night that she really couldn't afford to be kept late. She'd completely missed dinner with Eden. As soon as she got to her locker, she grabbed her phone and shot her roommate a text.

CHARLIE: im so sorry! coach sucks. made us stay late. ill b there soon.

EDEN: Don't worry about it. I know you would have been at dinner if you could have been. My call is in 10 minutes, though, so I've got to head over and start my hair and makeup. I'll see you in the lobby after!

CHARLIE: ok sorry lambchop. see u then.

She felt horrible not being able to see Eden before she had to go back to the greenroom and start getting ready, but at least her present was already in place. Thankfully she had listened to Jo's advice and had taken the box and put it at Eden's makeup station on her way to class that morning. Now that she was sure Eden wasn't mad at her for missing dinner, Charlie hopped in the shower and focused on making sure she looked hot for the show that night.

* * *

Had anyone asked, Eden wouldn't have lied; she was disappointed Charlie hadn't made it to dinner. She had been hoping for a face to face send off, thinking that maybe Charlie would return the cheek kiss she had given her before the basketball game. She shook it off, though, needing to focus and do her pre-show routine to get into character. Besides, Eden told herself, she might get the kiss afterwards.

Eden greeted the various crew members that were already bustling around backstage and made her way back to the greenroom so she could start getting her makeup on. Since Eden's makeup wasn't anything crazy, she would be applying it herself.

When she first spotted the box, Eden assumed someone from props had accidently left it on her makeup station when they were called away to attend to something else. But, as she got closer, she saw that there was an envelope sitting on top with the name 'Miss Renmark,' printed on the front in block letters she immediately recognized as Charlie's handwriting. Smiling, she snatched up the envelope and a nail file from the station next to her own, which she used to carefully slice open the top. Inside was a single note card that read:

_Edie,_

_I thought flowers would be too cliché and boring, so I got you these instead._

_Correction: I collected these instead._

_It's my way of making sure that nothing goes wrong for you._

_Tonight, you're the luckiest girl in the world._

_Break a leg,_

_Charlotte_

_aka Charlie_

_aka your roommate_

_aka the reincarnated soul of Michael Jordan even though he aint dead yet_

_(just go with it)_

Grinning as she put the note aside, Eden was definitely curious to find out what was in the box. She untied the yellow ribbon that was tied in a loose bow atop the white box and then pulled off the lid. Inside, filled nearly to the brim, were about 200 buckeyes. Eden laughed out loud, her heart swelling with happiness, as she reached in a pulled out a handful of the little, brown objects. She knew it must have taken Charlie ages to collect all of these, but she'd done it just so she could have something special on opening night—so she would know that Charlie was rooting for her. Eden couldn't believe it. A few happy tears leaked out of the corner of her eye as she laughed again. Charlotte Cole was making it very difficult not to fall for her.

Eden picked one particularly beautiful buckeye out and set it on the top of her makeup table where she could touch it every so often. The box, she tucked under the table for safekeeping. Then she began to put her makeup on.

Each time she started to feel nervous, Eden would glance down at her buckeye and think of Charlie, who would be out there in the audience, cheering her on, and her nerves would subside. And every time she thought of Charlie, Eden wondered how on earth she had gotten so lucky.

* * *

Opening night was a success. That's not to say that there weren't several forgotten lines and missed cues. It was a very rare thing indeed when a show ran absolutely perfectly. But, all in all, Eden couldn't have been happier.

The best part of the night, though, without a doubt, was when she finally made it to the lobby, still in full makeup, and Charlie shouted, "You should win an Oscar!" as she scooped Eden into her arms and planted a very wet kiss on her cheek. Eden didn't even bother telling her it wasn't possible to win an Oscar for stage acting; she was much too happy.


	5. November, Freshman Year, Continued

It was Saturday morning, and Eden was in that drowsy place between sleep and awake. Still half in a dream, she let her eyes flutter open for a moment, taking in a glimpse of Charlie's empty bed before they drifted closed again.

"Hmmm," Eden hummed curiously, wondering where Charlie could be.

There was a light breeze skittering through the cracked open window, tickling Eden's short-clad legs. She wondered why she wasn't cold. Logic told her that since she could feel the breeze, she must have kicked her blankets off in the night. But she wasn't cold. She felt warm, like she was being wrapped in a delicious, vanilla cloud. A cloud, now that she thought of it, smelled a lot like Charlie.

Eden cracked her eyes open again and turned her head down to inspect her own body.

"Oh," she mumbled, smiling.

"Are you talking to me or yourself?" Charlie grumbled, her voice muffled from the fact that her head was tucked into Eden's shoulder. The rest of Charlie's body was laid snuggly along Eden's own as well. There was no space between them; nowhere that Charlie wasn't pressed against Eden's skin.

"We must have fallen asleep during the movie," Eden said, observing the discarded laptop that had been pushed back against the wall at the foot of the bed.

"I guess so," Charlie agreed sleepily.

The feel of Charlie's mouth moving against the crook of her neck was making it hard for Eden to think.

"Mmm, Charlie…" Eden said, her voice scratchy with its morning rasp.

"Yeah?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing. I just wanted to say your name."

Eden could feel Charlie grin against her skin.

"You're so soft," Charlie whispered.

All Eden could do was sigh contentedly. She couldn't remember the last time she was this happy; her entire body was tingling pleasantly.

The night before had been the third performance of  _The King and I,_ and it had gone as smoothly as anyone could have hoped. There'd been only a few empty seats left in the entire theater. Eden was really doing it—she was living her dream, acting and singing on a stage in front of a packed house. Even better, she was making friends among the theatre kids and almost everyone involved in the production had told her how good she was in the play. Lying there with Charlie curled up beside her, Eden was sure that life couldn't get much better. She was content to just revel in the other girl's presence for a while.

After only a few moments, though, Charlie spoke again. "I'm so glad it's Saturday. We can just stay in bed all day long."

"What would we even do in bed all day?" Eden laughed.

Charlie lifted her head up just enough to give Eden a suggestive look. "If you're taking suggestions…"

"Right. Don't answer that," Eden blushed, clearing her throat. "Besides, you have practice at 2 pm. I suppose you could go back to bed  _after_ that."

"Nah, after practice is dinner and then the show."

"Charlotte, you can't seriously be going to the show again tonight," Eden scoffed.

Charlie peeled herself away from Eden's shoulder at this comment and propped her head up on her palm so she could look at Eden properly.

"Of course I'm going," she said simply.

"You've already seen the show t _hree_  times," Eden giggled. "You  _have_ to be bored out of your mind."

"Maybe I've developed a new appreciation for the theatre," Charlie said quietly, running the backs of her fingers lightly down Eden's arm, leaving a field of goose bumps in her wake.

Eden felt a bit breathless as Charlie continued to touch her, running her fingertips over her exposed bits of flesh, the tension between intensifying by the second.

"You fell asleep to  _My Fair Lady_ just last night," Eden whispered in a poor attempt to diffuse some of that tension.

"So did you," Charlie smirked. Then she tickled Eden's side with a light pinch.

Eden wasn't expecting it and she let out a little squeal as her body gave an involuntary lurch, causing her to roll onto her side and right into Charlie's arms. She did her best to keep her composure in their new, extremely close proximity, and after mentally steadying herself, retorted, "It's different. I've seen it twenty times already."

"Okay," Charlie said, not caring one lick about the argument when Eden was flush against her and their eyes were wide and locked onto each other. She moved a tentative hand over to Eden's hip, resuming her feather-light touches, though her hand was shaking slightly now.

Neither of them said anything for awhile after that. They just stayed there, staring into each other's eyes, both waiting for the other to look away, but neither doing so. When Charlie finally did look away, it was only as far as Eden's lips. Just a look was enough to make Eden's breath hitch in her chest, though.

Without taking her eyes off of Eden's plump lips, Charlie very quietly muttered, "What…would you do…if I kissed you?"

Eden couldn't move. Her heart had stopped. It had actually stopped beating. Okay, maybe she was being a tad dramatic. But honestly, butterflies had erupted in every part of her body, threatening to spill past her lips. She considered her answer very carefully before she spoke, Charlie watching her with an uncertain, crinkled brow.

Finally, Eden was able to gain control of her body again, and she reach forward and gently grabbed a fistful of Charlie's shirt, staring very hard at her fist as she said, "If you kissed me, I would, for the first time in my life, consider staying in bed until 2 pm."

Charlie smile broadly, then spoke again. "So does that mean you'd kiss me back?"

"Yes, Charlotte, it does," Eden replied steadily, even though her heart was about to beat right out of her chest.

Charlie took what looked to Eden like a very difficult gulp and then licked her lips. "Do you want me to brush my teeth or anything?" Charlie asked with a nervous chuckle." Clearly, she was stalling.

But Eden was tired of waiting. "Just kiss me, Charlie," Eden said, leaning forward at the same moment that Charlie did, their noses brushing.

Eden had just closed her eyes when her phone started ringing. Her jaw clenched in annoyance.  _So close_ , she thought as she pulled back just a bit. Even if Eden had no intention of  _answering_  the phone, she still didn't want it ringing in the background while she and Charlie had their first kiss. That just didn't seem right.

"Hold that thought," Eden said apologetically, grabbing her phone off the top of her bedpost where she set it to charge each night. As she went to silence it, however, she saw that it was her mother calling. She bit her lip uncertainly, glancing back at Charlie. "It's my mom. I'm just going to make sure everything's okay. I'm sorry,"

Charlie nodded understandingly.

"Good morning, Mom," Eden said, hoping beyond hope that she sounded normal and that her mother would be unable to detect what she had just interrupted.

As Eden had picked up, Charlie had reached out and taken one of Eden's tendrils of hair into her hand, playing with it and winding it around her finger. Eden could practically feel the desire wafting off of her. It was very distracting.

"Hi, baby," Nel's voice greeted her daughter. She sounded very happy. "Hope I didn't wake you."

"No, no," Eden replied, her attention slipping back to her bedfellow already. "I was just getting up."

Charlie had moved her hand now, toying with the hair just behind Eden's ear, running her fingers tantalizingly along the slope of her neck. Eden's eyes closed of their own volition, a very aroused breath puffing out of her mouth.

"Sorry, what did you say?" Eden asked, trying desperately to focus on what her mother was saying. "You cut out for a second."  _Or I did,_ Eden thought.

"I said, why don't you come downstairs and let me in?" Nel repeated. "Surprise! You didn't think I'd miss seeing you in your first role at Vallance did you?"

It was like someone had poured ice-cold water all over the bed. The blood in Eden's veins froze. She recoiled away from Charlie, who had been staring hungrily at her and biting her lip impatiently.

Charlie, too, had sensed the change in the atmosphere, though, because she met Eden's eyes with a concerned confusion.

"Oh my gosh," Eden stuttered out, "are you serious?"

"I just parked in the lot across from your dorm," Nel announced happily.

Eden climbed out of her bed so quickly she nearly fell, scampering backwards across the room, as far from Charlie as she could get.

"Okay!" Eden replied in faux-excitement, thanking her years of acting classes for how convincing she sounded. "Just let me throw some clothes on and I'll be right down!"

Eden hung up the phone, her hands shaking violently. For a moment she just stood there, arms clamped tightly around her torso as she tried to contain the involuntary movements of her body, terror and shock holding her heart in a vice like grip. She was breathing like she'd just run a marathon.

"You have to get out of my bed right now," Eden said coldly.

Charlie looked like Eden had just slapped her. "Edie, what's wrong?" Charlie asked, her tone frightened and unsure now.

"My mother is here," Eden answered flatly. "She's outside."

"Well, that's okay—" Charlie began, but Eden cut her off.

"No, it's not! Get out of my bed! She can't know we…slept in the same…that we ever have. It's not okay."

Charlie climbed quickly out of Eden's bed now, moving toward her panicky roommate, whose eyes were unfocused and frantic. She wasn't sure why Eden was so upset or what was going on, but her instinct was to comfort the girl that had come to mean so much to her over the past three months.

"Eden, just calm down, okay? Everything is going to be fine," Charlie assured her.

"You don't get it," Eden said, brushing past Charlie and throwing on the first pair of pants she could find. "If she found out that…that we were about to…" Eden's thoughts were tearing through her brain like a tornado, ripping and destroying everything they touched. All rationality and logic were being destroyed by her fear and emotion. She felt like she was going to be sick. "We're just friends, do you understand?" she hurled at Charlie, unaware in her state of mind what her words were doing to the other girl.

There was a pregnant pause while Charlie waited, sure Eden was going to take it back or clarify what she had just said somehow, but her wait was in vain.

"Yeah, I got it," Charlie said weakly. She didn't sound at all like the Charlie that Eden had begun to fall in love with.

But Eden was too far gone in her own fear to notice or even look at her. If she had, she might not even have recognized Charlie, the girl looked so crushed. Instead, Eden tugged on a pair of shoes, grabbed her keys and rushed out the door of their room.

* * *

Despite the swirling, uncontrollable turmoil Eden was feeling inside of her since her mother called, she felt a strange relief wash over her when she burst out of the lobby of Craft Hall and was engulfed in Nel's arms. She was completely enveloped in everything that was her mother – the strong, safe arms; the way she always smelled of Cinnabar, her perfume; and the raspy quality of her voice as she greeted her. Eden, until that moment, hadn't realized how stressed out she truly was. She collapsed in the safety her mother provided—would always provide—because Nel always made Eden feel like everything was going to be okay. Eden did her best to avoid falling apart completely, but she ended up crying a little. Nel didn't ask her what was wrong. She just held her daughter tightly and kissed her head until she had stopped.

"I've been so…overwhelmed lately," Eden sniffed, trying to find a word to adequately summarize what it felt like to be on her own for the first time while simultaneously being torn apart by guilt and confusion over her feelings for her roommate. On top of all that she had to maintain her grades and remember every cue and line when she was onstage. "I guess I didn't realized how much I missed you."

"That's alright. Let's go inside, baby," Nel urged, keeping one arm wrapped around her daughter. "It's cold out here."

Eden agreed and the two headed back inside and up the stairs to she and Charlie's room.

* * *

The moment Eden had left the room, Charlie had started packing up everything she was going to need for basketball practice that afternoon as well as some of her books and her laptop.

Her heart had pretty much shattered when Eden had freaked out and pushed her away, but she had made herself quite clear. They were just friends. More than anything, Charlie just felt stupid. She knew this was going to happen. Whatever had been going on between she and Eden, well, whatever it had seemed like,  _it wasn't._ Eden didn't feel the same way about her. She had probably just been lonely. It was her first time away from home after all. Charlie had just been a source of comfort that had drifted into a grey area. Eden probably hadn't meant to hurt her, Charlie told herself, but she'd gotten carried away.

Charlie could forgive her that, eventually. Whatever else had happened, Eden was still the best friend she had ever had. But that didn't mean Charlie had to hang around with her and Nel all day, torturing herself over what she couldn't have. She was just so fucking stupid. Charlie couldn't believe she'd let herself become so invested in the game of chicken she and Eden had, apparently, been playing.

Charlie wiped a few stray tears that had leaked out of her eyes unnoticed as she finished shoving everything into her gym bag and zipped it up. When she heard the door open behind her, she took a deep breath, slapped a forced smile on her face, and turned around.

"Hi, Ms. Renmark," Charlie heard herself say.

"Charlie, please," Nel said, greeting her with a hug, "call me Nel."

"Right, sorry," Charlie chuckled. But it wasn't a real chuckle. She shook her head slightly. " _Nel_. There we go."

Charlie was doing her best not to meet Eden's eyes, but she could feel her roommate's gaze on her. Even though Eden was only in her peripheral vision, Charlie could read her expression—concern and worry was etched deeply into her features. At the moment, Charlie assumed this was because she was still scared Charlie was going to announce what had almost happened only 10 minutes ago in Eden's bed.

Charlie drug her hand over her face, betraying her true emotions just briefly, before she collected herself again and focused back on Nel. "I hate to just say hey and run but I've got a basketball practice I have to get to," Charlie lied.

"Well, we'll just have to catch up later," Nel said smiling warmly.

"But, I…" Eden spoke up at last and Charlie couldn't help but look over at her. "I thought your practice wasn't until 2…"

Charlie stared at her, mouth set firmly, trying to read the expression on Eden's face. Charlie thought she would have been relieved at her quick departure, but Eden only looked let down.

"Um…yeah, I thought it was," Charlie replied, trying to throw off the confusion she was feeling. "But Abby just texted me. I guess I forgot Coach had moved it to 10 this morning. Anyway…"

Nel looked between the two girls in a series of discerning glances that both Eden and Charlie missed because they were staring so intensely at each other.

"Are you still coming to the show tonight?" Eden asked in what, for her, was a very small voice indeed.

Charlie was going to say no, but for the fact that Eden looked the most vulnerable she had ever seen her and despite how betrayed Charlie felt, she still couldn't bear to hurt Eden. "Of course I'll be there," Charlie said in a defeated whisper. She had quite forgotten Nel was even in the room until the woman spoke up again.

"I'm glad to hear that," Nel said, smiling at Charlie. "For a minute I thought I was going to have to sit alone."

"No ma'am," Charlie returned the smile. "I'll keep you company. It would be my plesure. I could meet you in the theater lobby at…well, Eden's call is usually at—"

"—at 6," Eden and Charlie said together, Eden grinning unsurely.

"So I could meet you then, if you'd like," Charlie finished. "We could hang out until the show starts at 7:30?"

"That sounds lovely, Charlotte. I will see you then," Nel told her, giving the girl's arm a squeeze.

"I promise I'll be on my best behavior," Charlie said, utterly serious, nodding at the woman before her. "Well, I should get going. Have a good day."

Charlie gave them both a rather awkward wave and then banged her way out of the room, her heavier than normal gym bag swinging wildly and hitting Eden's desk, the closet door, and the wall on her way out.

"I sure do like her," Nel said chuckling as she watched Charlie disappear into the stairwell.

"So do I," Eden muttered under her breath, hoping against hope that whatever damage she had caused in her panic wasn't irreparable.

* * *

Eden and Nel spent the rest of the morning sitting together in the dorm room, Eden talking almost nonstop about her new life at Vallance—her classes, the theatre program, Charlie and her basketball games, Jo and Emily and the things they all did together. It wasn't as if they didn't talk on the pone at least once a week, but Eden couldn't stop herself recounting everything. It was like she was at confession and telling her mother about her newfound freedom at college would absolve her of any and all sins she'd committed. She didn't tell her everything, but she told Nel everything up to those hazy, grey edges that bordered the continent in her heart that belonged only to Charlotte Cole. She even told her about the first frat party when she'd gotten drunk and assaulted and Charlie had found her just in the nick of time. Nel wrapped her in her arms for a solid five minutes after Eden had finished the story.

"You know, I'm starting to believe that God put Charlie in your life for a reason," Nel said, sending up a silent prayer of thanks for her daughter's roommate.

Eden agreed, but wasn't sure yet what she thought that reason was.

"God never gives us more than we can handle," Nel went on absentmindedly. Eden was used to this, as it was something Nel had done for as long as she could remember. "When we're tempted, He always gives us a way to escape or the strength we need to bear it."

Eden gave her mother a tight lipped smile and wondered if Charlie was the temptation or the escape in her life, when so often, she felt like a little of both.

* * *

Charlie stormed across campus, no idea where she was going. She considered the library, but it really wasn't her style. In the end, she ducked into the Corn Husk because she was cold and once inside she realized she was hungry. She ordered a breakfast bagel and then found an empty table in the corner of the dining area where she could sulk. After she finished eating, Charlie pulled out her textbooks and attempted to get some work done, but her mind kept replaying the morning's events. The yearning and sadness inside her were crashing into one another so violently her body was actually shaking.

When Jo walked up to her table, Charlie was shredding her fifth napkin and grinding her teeth.

"Hey," Jo said.

Charlie looked up at her friend, who she hadn't even seen approach. "Hi," she returned sadly, not at all her usual snarky self.

"Are you busy?" Jo asked, expecting Charlie to say something about how, yes, she needed to destroy ten more napkins before the woman behind the counter threw her out, but she didn't.

All Charlie said was, "No."

"Dude, are you okay?" Jo asked, her brow wrinkled in worry.

"I jumped out of a plane this morning, went to pull the cord of my parachute, and realized it was actually a backpack," Charlie deadpanned.

"I see," Jo said, though she didn't really. "Well, skydiving is always risky. That's why they make you sign all the consent forms before hand."

"Yeah, you can say that again," Charlie huffed and laid her head down on the pile of torn napkins.

"I'm glad you survived the fall," Jo offered.

"You know I didn't actually jump out of a plane, right?" Charlie asked, glancing up at Jo.

"As you're not dead, I did assume it was a metaphor," Jo replied. "Come help me. I have to do a repair on the set before the show tonight."

"I don't really feel like it," Charlie mumbled, closing her eyes.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't a question. Get up," Jo demanded.

"No," Charlie whined. "I don't wanna."

Jo gathered up all the napkin bits and threw them in the trash. Then she put Charlie's books and notebook back into her gym bag, hoisted it onto her own shoulder, grabbed Charlie by the arm, and tugged until the her moping friend acquiesced and started moving on her own.

* * *

"So what the hell happened to this table?" Jo asked as Charlie held the newly glued leg in place while she quickly hammered in a nail.

"Why are you asking me?" Charlie huffed, her mood in no way improved by Jo forcing her to help her make repairs on the set. Just being in the theater reminded her of Eden and how breathtaking she was on stage, which in turn just made her even more sad.

"Because you've been to every single show," Jo replied as if it were obvious.

"Oh, right," Charlie said. She scrunched up her face and looked more closely at the table, then smiled slightly. "Oh yeah, during the big dance scene with Anna and the King last night, well, the King spun her a bit too much, I think. Jess went flying back into this. She nearly fell on her ass, but they played it off really well, had the whole crowd laughing. Eden said…" But Charlie trailed off at the mention of her roommate.

"You guys have a fight or something?" Jo asked, noticing how Charlie clammed up at the mention of Eden.

"Yeah, something like that," Charlie said vaguely. "Her mom showed up this morning. Surprised her, to uh, see the show, you know."

"That's awesome! She must have pulled a lot of string to be here," Jo commented.

"Yeah, I guess so," Charlie agreed.

She hadn't really thought of it in the midst of her misery, but Charlie knew Nel was a single parent and she had to work very hard to take care of her children. She would have had to take time off work and find someone to watch Esther and Gabriel, not to mention how much the flights would have cost her.

Just a couple weeks previous, Eden had revealed to Charlie that she was on a full-ride performance scholarship at Vallance. Charlie got the feeling from the way she'd said it that if she hadn't secured the scholarship, she wouldn't have been able to attend Vallance. After Eden had told her, Charlie had felt a strange desire to buy something for her. She wasn't really sure why. It wasn't that Charlie felt bad for Eden or thought she was so poor she couldn't buy things for herself. It was just that the more Charlie learned about Eden, the more she liked her. And apparently, Charlie was one of those people who showed affection through presents. She didn't know that as she'd never liked someone before in quite the same way that she liked Eden. Charlie ended up buying her a sweatshirt from bookstore that Eden had mentioned liking when they were browsing after lunch one day. She couldn't bring herself to actually give the sweatshirt to Eden straight out, though, because she didn't want to have to explain  _why_ she'd gotten it for her. In the end, Charlie had just slipped it into Eden's closet. Eden never mentioned the sweatshirt outright, thankfully, but she'd worn it almost every night to sleep in since she'd found it. And after putting it on the first night, she'd given Charlie a very long, lingering hug.

 _What an idiot I am,_ Charlie thought. Of course Eden had almost kissed her. She probably felt obligated, Charlie decided. She would just have to set some boundaries between them. For real this time. And stop with the present buying.

"Okay, I think that should do it," Jo said after several minutes. Jo was someone who was comfortable with silence. On the rare occasion that Charlie was quiet, Jo was more than happy to leave Charlie to her thoughts. It was a quality that Charlie greatly admired about her, since Charlie could hardly shut up most of the time.

"As long as no one else collapses on it," Charlie added, helping Jo put the table back on its legs.

"Well yeah. I'll have to talk to Jack, tell him it's a bit more fragile now. He likes to take liberties with the blocking sometimes," Jo said of the actor who was playing the King.

"He's no Yul Brynner, that's for sure," Charlie threw out casually.

Jo turned to Charlie and gave her a very surprised look.

"What?" Charlie asked. "You don't agree?"

"No, I definitely agree," Jo laughed. "I'm just kind of surprised you know who that is."

"Why? I know theatre-y things," Charlie quipped, a definite challenge in her tone.

"Oh, okay," Jo snapped back, crossing her arms and rounding on Charlie, sure she could poke some holes in Charlie's theatre knowledge fairly easily. "In that case, why don't you share your opinion on Topol with me?"

Charlie smirked, thoroughly enjoying she and Jo's little show down.

"Well—I think the guy had balls, that's for sure," Charlie said.

"Very astute," Jo chortled.

"I wasn't done yet," Charlie quipped back.

"By all means then, extrapolate on how Topol 'has balls,'" Jo said, smiling widely.

"I mean, Brynner and Topol, they both like…trademarked those rolls basically. Anyone who ever plays The King of Siam or Tevye are inevitably going to be compared to those guys and probably fall short of their performances. Both of them were iconic."

Jo was looking impressed, so Charlie pressed on.

"However, unlike Brynner, who, as I'm sure you're aware, reprised the character of the King on screen after playing the role on Broadway, Topol had to come in and own it after Zero Mostel had completely dominated the role of Tevye on stage. Like, the guy  _was_ Tevye, and Topol came in for the movie and did his own thing and totally went down in history for it. See? Topol has giant, badass balls. Brynner was just…indomitable."

Jo let out a bark of laughter. "That was awesome!" she admitted. "I will never again question your musical theatre knowledge. I really didn't think you were such a big fan of that kind of stuff, though."

"I wasn't," Charlie sighed, her sour mood coming back to the forefront of her mind once more.

"What changed?" Jo asked. "Why the newfound appreciation?"

Charlie gave Jo a defeated look. "You know why. Don't make me say it out loud. It's too embarrassing. Let's just pretend I haven't been reading up on the history of Rogers and Hammerstein's musicals in my spare time, okay?"

Jo gave Charlie a sympathetic smile. "Your secret's safe with me," she said solemnly, and then in a move that caught Charlie off guard, Jo pulled her into a tight hug. Though she hadn't been expecting it, Charlie hugged her friend back very tightly indeed.

"It'll be okay," Jo told her when they'd separated again. "You'll see."

"I'm not so sure about that," Charlie said in a small voice.

"Well, I am," Jo countered, giving Charlie her best, most encouraging smile.

* * *

Charlie spent the rest of the morning messing around with Jo and Emily, who they called on their way to Jo's dorm room. The three spent a few hours just talking and listening to music while Jo plied them with candy. She seemed to have a never-ending supply of chocolate stored in various drawers in her room. At 1:30, Charlie was feeling somewhat better as she bid her friends goodbye and headed to the Field House to get ready for practice.

At practice, Charlie was usually focused and driven, but that day she was even more so than usual. She pushed herself extra hard. It felt good to be running, to feel the sweat dripping off her skin, to feel the burn in all of her muscles. Not for the first time in her life, Charlie seriously wondered what she would do if she couldn't play basketball, if that outlet was ever to go away for some reason. The thought made her feel a bit panicky, so she ran harder and did an extra set of pushups and sit ups at the end of practice.

"You good, Cole?" Abby shouted to her, noticing how hard her young teammate had been pushing herself that day. She appreciated hard work, but Charlie was likely to hurt herself if she kept going at the intensity she had been all afternoon.

"Yeah, I'm good," Charlie replied before collapsing on her back underneath the goal farthest from the locker rooms. She stayed like that, just staring up into the rim and net above her.

"You're done for the day," Charlie heard Abby shout at her again. It wasn't a question.

Charlie stuck a thumbs up in the air in response and heard the heavy door of the gym clang shut behind her captain. Then she closed her eyes and sighed deeply, attempting to steel herself for the night ahead. It wasn't that she didn't like Nel, she did. Very much, in fact. It was more that Nel was the mother of the most gorgeous creature in the world, with whom Charlie was hopelessly in love. And the fact that the gorgeous creature had stomped on her heart that morning like she was a professional clogger. Laying there on the basketball court, dreading having to see Eden again, Charlie felt like crying, but she didn't. She didn't want to let herself be weak.

* * *

After showering and making sure she looked absolutely on point, Charlie walked the short distance to the Lincoln Center and took a seat in the lobby to wait for Eden and Nel. It was 5:45 so she wasn't expecting them to show up for at least another five minutes. Charlie made sure to arrive early. Despite how she was feeling, she never would have risked being late and disrespecting Nel that way. Not after how kind Nel had been to her.

At five til 6 o'clock, Eden and Nel walked in the doors that lead out to the parking lot. Charlie figured they had gone to dinner somewhere. The thought only made her even sadder for some reason. Ignoring the uneasiness settling in her stomach, Charlie got up and met the pair as they made their way further into the lobby.

"Hey, Charlie," Eden said. She sounded as nervous as Charlie felt.

"Hi," Charlie replied simply. Less talking was better because it meant there was less of chance for anything—be it vomit or emotions—to come out of her mouth.

"How was practice?" Eden asked, mentally begging the girl in front of her to give her some clue or sign or  _anything_ to let her know she hadn't fucked everything up beyond repair.

"Good," Charlie said. "Coach worked us hard."

"When's your next game?" Nel questioned. "I'm not leaving until Monday night."

"It's not until Tuesday night," Eden responded immediately.

Charlie narrowed her eyes as she glanced over at Eden quickly. Had Eden memorized her game schedule?

"Well, that's too bad," Nel said with a frown. "I'd love to see you play, Charlotte. Maybe next time I visit we can arrange it to make sure I can catch one of your games."

"Really?" Charlie asked, unsure why anyone would care so much about seeing her play basketball. Especially when that someone wasn't even her own parent.

"Of course!" Nel laughed. "The way Eden tells it, you're the best player on the team."

Charlie blushed so hard her face actually hurt. What was worse, Eden hadn't taken her eyes off her since she'd come in. Charlie felt like she was being x-rayed.

"I don't now about that," Charlie said, willing her face to return to its normal color. She looked over at Eden, unable to look away any longer. "You should probably get back there."

Eden looked like she was coming out of a deep trance. "What?" she said, and then quickly amended, "Oh, right. Yeah, I better…"

"We'll see you after, baby," Nel said, giving her daughter a hug and kiss.

Eden moved to hug Charlie after, but the girl took a small step away and shoved her hands deep her in jean pockets.

"Break a leg," Charlie said with a smile like waxed fruit and a curt nod.

"Thanks," Eden said before she hurried away.

Eden barely made it into the green room before a loud sob made it's way out of her mouth. She'd ruined everything.

* * *

Suddenly Charlie was left standing alone in the lobby of the theater with Nel Renmark; it was more awkward than she thought it was going to be without Eden there to serve as a buffer between them. She fidgeted, rocking back onto her heels and forward again, cracking her knuckles.

"Well, where should we go for dinner?" Nel asked, taking pity on the nervous girl in front of her.

"Didn't you eat with Eden?" Charlie asked, quirking up one of her eyebrows.

"We went to a little sandwich shop for a late lunch, but I could eat again," Nel smiled.

"Thank god! I'm starving," Charlie laughed in relief. She'd figure she would have to wait until the show was over to grab some food.

"Eden said you would be," Nel chuckled.

"Why don't we just go to the cafeteria? It's chicken pesto sandwich night," Charlie gushed. "Oh man, they are so good. You have to try one!"

"That sounds delicious," Nel said, hoisting her purse up higher on her shoulder as they prepared to leave. "Let's do it."

"Sweet," Charlie declared, feeling at ease now that her time with Nel had a direction and purpose. "Oh, and they've got these sweet potato fries! They practically melt in your mouth."

Charlie offered her arm out to Nel who took it with a grin on her face, and then the two headed off to dinner.

"I imagine you're excited for winter break," Nel commented as she took a satisfying bite out of her sandwich.

Charlie paused, a handful of fries halfway to her mouth, then shrugged and replied, "Not really."

"Why not?" Nel asked in a light conversational tone. In actuality, she'd wanted to talk to Charlie about her family since the first day she'd met her daughter's roommate.

"Um…" Charlie ate a few fries before she continued, but Nel was patient and quiet. "It's not like my parents are mean," Charlie prefaced. "They give me money and make sure I have everything I need. But…I've just always felt like I was bothering them. They both work a lot so I was usually with a nanny when I was growing up. I wasn't part of the plan, you know. So I just…well, I'd rather stay here, if I could."

"I can't imagine why anyone would be bothered by you, Charlotte. I bet your parents have missed you more than you think. Do you have brothers or sisters?"

"Yeah," Charlie's eyes widened. "Six of them. They're all way older than me, though. Felicity, she's the one closest to me in age and she's seven years older than me."

"I see," Nel replied, watching Charlie keenly as she ate. "So you're on your own at home? Not much company?"

"Pretty much. Did you ever watch that show,  _7_ _th_ _Heaven_?" Charlie asked with a grimace, as if she was embarrassed to bring it up.

"Sure. Eden watched that for a couple years when she was in elementary school. I enjoyed it more than some of the other shows she watched."

Charlie scratched at her neck and ran her fingers through her hair a few times, then took a sip of her drink, trying to decide if she should go on or not. Eventually, she decided there was no harm in telling Nel about her life, so she cleared her throat and continued.

"I watched that show  _a lot_. I was kid of obsessed with it, actually. I never missed an episode. I liked it because, well, the Camdens, they had a big family like I did, except they all  _liked_ each other and all the brothers and sisters hung out and looked after each other. God," Charlie paused, shaking her head as she laughed dryly. "I used to  _wish_ my family was like that. But…no matter how hard I tried, I just seemed to annoy everyone. Then, I finally figured it out. In season three, the mom gets pregnant again and she has twins. And it was just…too much. All the other kids' lives get thrown into chaos because now there's these new babies crying all the time, and the mom and dad were always tired all the time because they were older and…and I just realized why none of my family liked me very much. When I was born, all of their lives got messed up and it was my fault."

"Oh, Charlotte," Nel said when Charlie had finished. "No, sweetheart, that's not true." Nel reached across the table and gathered Charlie's hands in her own, then, holding them tightly, she said, "You are a precious child of God and you have a purpose in the world. If you're family can't see the gift you are, then they're blind. Even just knowing you this short time, I can already see how sweet and smart and loyal you are—how brave you are. You know, sometimes family is the blood we're born into, but not always. Sometimes we find our real family later in life; it's those people who see us for who we are and accept us and love us no matter what."

"You really think I can just choose a new family?" Charlie grumbled, clearly skeptical of the notion.

"I think that you can make a new one if you want. A supplemental family, if you will," Nel said, chuckling a bit at the term and getting a small smile out of Charlie. "And if you ever need a mother for any reason, you can always call me. I truly believe that God put you and Eden into each other's lives for a reason."

Charlie raised her eyes from the table at last and Nel could see that they were shining with unshed tears. "Eden's really lucky to have such a cool mom," Charlie got out.

Nel chuckled jovially. "I'm blessed to have such a wonderful daughter and Eden is certainly blessed to have you in her life."

"I guess I'm pretty cool, too," Charlie said with a weak smile.

"Yes, you are," Nel said. She gave Charlie an encouraging smile and squeezed her hands once more before letting them go so the two could finish their meals.

* * *

Eden barely pulled herself together in time for the curtain.

Emily, who had been wrangled by Jo into ushering that night, had come upon her in the greenroom, surrounded by people who were handing her tissues and trying to figure out what was wrong with her. Emily had quickly extracted her from the other actors, who all really needed to be preparing, and pulled Eden into the nearest bathroom, locking the door behind them.

"Eden, what is going on?" Emily had asked her desperately. "Your first scene is in like half an hour!"

"I know! I know," Eden had sniffed. "I'm fine. I mean…I'm going to be fine."

Emily had rubbed her back soothing for a few minutes until Eden had stopped crying altogether. Then she'd made Eden do some deep breathing exercises with her, which Emily remembered from her Health class in high school. Finally, Emily had suggested that she splash some cold water in her face. By the end of it all, Eden was feeling like she could actually go out and perform that night.

"Are you nervous because your mom is here?" Emily asked, still doing her best to cheer Eden up.

"No," Eden answered, and then paused. "Wait…how did you know my mom was here?"

"Oh, Charlie told me this morning," Emily explained.

"You saw Charlie today?" Eden asked, turning around quickly from where she'd started to apply her makeup in the bathroom mirror. She was desperate to talk about the other girl.

"Yeah. She and Jo and I hung out this morning," Emily nodded. "I thought you'd be there, too, but when I asked, Charlie said you were with your mom."

"Did she…say anything about me?" Eden asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Charlie?"

"Yeah…it's just, well…" Eden was teetering on the edge of telling Emily what had actually happened that morning. That's how torn up she was about the whole situation—how worried she was that things between she and Charlie would never be the same. She couldn't quite bring herself to do it, though, because it would be mean revealing the internal war that had been raging in her for the past three months. Eden wasn't ready to say it all out loud just yet. "Charlotte and I sort of had plans to… hang out this morning and then my mom surprised me and I had to bail on Charlie. And I said something…rather…well,  _insensitive_  and now she's upset with me."

Emily listened patiently as Eden tripped her way through the vague explanation of that morning. She could tell something was up, and she had a feeling she knew what that something was, but she also had a feeling she shouldn't push Eden to talk about it. Especially 15 minutes before the show started. Instead, she picked up a brush, stepped behind Eden and started to work on getting the girl's hair stage-ready.

"Look, I'm not going to lie to you," Emily said after a few moments silence. "Charlie did seem out of sorts this morning and she was pretty sad. But I mean, it's Charlie. Whatever it was you said, just apologize to her. You know she'll forgive you. She adores you."

Eden stopped in the middle of applying her eyeliner and looked up at Emily in the mirror behind her. "She does?" Eden asked, not even bothering to hide how pathetically hopeful she sounded.

Emily just tilted her head and gave Eden a look that quite clearly said,  _are you kidding me?_

Eden couldn't help but smile a little at that. "You're right," she said, a new, firm resolve growing in her mind. "I'll just do whatever I have to in order for Charlie to forgive me. It'll be okay. I'll make it right."

* * *

That night Eden gave what was arguably her best performance as Tuptim yet. Her newfound resolve concerning Charlie seemed to be fueling her from the inside. It felt like a wildfire, scorching and clearing away her sadness until there was nothing left inside of Eden but the possibility for something new. She wanted to completely knock Charlie off her feet with how good her performance was, to make it impossible for Charlie to ignore her. The fact that her mother was in the audience also probably helped.

After the show ended and the customary compliments and congratulations had been given all around, Charlie and Eden both said goodnight to Nel, who was heading back to a hotel room she had booked on the other side of town. Then it was just the two of them, on their own, with nothing to do but walk back to Craft Hall together.

Charlie didn't wait for Eden, though. As soon as Nel had pulled out of the parking lot, she'd shoved her hands into her pockets, turned, and stalked off, leaving Eden to catch up to her.

"Charlie, wait!" Eden called, rushing after her.

With a deep sigh, Charlie slowed down her pace. She couldn't be mean to Eden, as much as she wanted to keep walking and not look back, she just couldn't do it. She cared too deeply for the other girl at this point.

It only took a moment for Eden to appear beside her on the sidewalk. "So…what did you think of the show tonight?"

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Really? Fishing for compliments?"

"I was just trying to break the ice," Eden snapped back, unable to control herself. She always got very frustrated when she couldn't fix things as quickly as she wanted to.

"Well, you were fucking incredible tonight and you know it. Happy?" Charlie laughed bitterly, picking up her pace once more.

"No! I'm not happy!" Eden barked. "Could you slow down for two seconds so we could have a civilized conversation, Charlotte?"

"Oh, sure! Now that you're feeling better and your mom's not here, you're ready to ready to 'slow down.'" Charlie said in a mocking tone, putting air quotes around the term, "and have a 'civilized conversation.' But when I wanted to do that this morning…"

Charlie ran her hand through her hair angrily and turned away from Eden, not able to continue with her train of thought.

"I was horrible this morning, Charlie," Eden said, coming up behind the girl and laying a hand on her shoulder. Charlie stiffened in response and moved away from her touch.

"It doesn't matter," Charlie said, unwilling to admit how badly Eden had hurt her that morning. "Let's just go back to the room."

"It does too matter," Eden said firmly, rounding Charlie so she could stand in front of her, impeding any further progress towards the dormitory. "I'm  _so sorry_."

Normally, Charlie would have just forgiven Eden. She wasn't someone who held grudges or enjoyed making others feel guilty for things they'd done. But forgiving Eden meant making herself vulnerable again, and admitting that she had been hurt by what Eden had said. She knew if she was going to reestablish the boundaries between them she had to play it cool.

"It's fine, okay? Seriously," Charlie reiterated at Eden's look of disbelief. "I mean, it was probably a good thing that you're mom called when she did. I don't think either of us want to go down that road." Charlie forced herself to laugh after she said this, though her heart was seizing painfully. Then she stepped around Eden and continued walking towards their dorm.

Eden was at a loss. How was she supposed to make things right if Charlie wouldn't even admit there was anything Eden needed to apologize for? Her mind was a mess as she followed slowly behind Charlie on the sidewalk, the other girl pulling farther and farther away from her as they went. Part of Eden wanted to run, to catch up to Charlie, and spin her around and just kiss her. Just force her to admit that this thing between them was real and they both wanted it. But the other, larger part of her knew that would be a horrible idea and it would most likely just make Charlie more upset with her. Out of ideas and with her shoulders slumped in defeat, Eden resigned herself to the fact that this was going to take longer to fix than she had been hoping. She was still just as determined to get back in Charlie's good graces, just less sure of how to accomplish her goal.

* * *

The next day Charlie agreed to go with Eden and Nel to a creperie downtown for brunch after the other two had gone to church. She wanted to make an excuse like she had the day before, but once again, she couldn't even stand the thought of being rude. She also still adored Eden. And Nel. And she wanted to spend time with them both, so she decided to grit her teeth and bare it.

Eden had to be trying to kill her, though, Charlie thought as they sat together in the restaurant. She was wearing this beautiful, low cut, butter cream yellow dress that Charlie had never seen before. The color looked amazing with Eden's dark skin. It was doing things to Charlie where she was sitting across the table from Eden. She kept inadvertently staring at the girl's cleavage. And maybe she as going crazy, but Eden seemed to be encouraging it—giving Charlie these intense, bold gazes, and running her fingers along her collarbone to bring Charlie's attention back to the area every time she managed to look away. And sometimes, when she was adding something to the conversation, Eden would actually lean forward so that Charlie had a better view. If Charlie hadn't been so turned on, she would have been impressed that Eden was pulling all of this off without arousing any suspicions from her mother.

When they finally left the restaurant, Charlie was so distracted that she agreed to spend the afternoon going antiquing with the two—something she never would have done if she'd been in her right mind.

* * *

On Monday, both Eden and Charlie had classes to attend, of course, so they weren't able to do anything other than meet up with Nel one last time for dinner before she had to leave to catch the red eye that night. Eden requested that they go back to the The Gondola, where they'd eaten together on she and Charlie's first day at Vallance.

In the restaurant, Eden made she should got the seat next to Charlie and spent the entire meal discreetly touching Charlie at any opportunity. She asked Charlie to pass her the breadsticks and brushed her hand as she took the basket from her. When Charlie said something funny, Eden laughed loudly and bumped her shoulder into the other girl's. She was even so bold as wrap her leg around Charlie's under the table. The fact that Charlie made no move to unlink their limbs made Eden feel like she was finally making some headway.

* * *

Any further progress with Charlie was brought to a screeching halt after that night, though.

On Tuesday, Charlie had a basketball game. Since  _The King and I_  had it's final show on Sunday night, Eden once again took up her place in the first two rows of bleachers to cheer Charlie on. She was on her own, however, as neither Jo or Emily could make it to the game that night.

Things between she and Charlie were still rather tense. Charlie seemed to be keeping her emotions all bottled up. She was neither as talkative as normal, nor as crass as Eden was used to. Eden hadn't actually had any time since Saturday night to try to force her roommate into another conversation, so things had reach a plateau between them—a place that was neither good nor bad.

When Eden entered the Field House, she spotted Charlie doing her warm-up drills with the rest of the team and waved to her with an uncertain smile. Charlie gave her a small wave back but Eden was really starting to miss the way her roommate's eyes used to light up whenever Charlie saw her.

Dragging her feet a bit now, Eden made her way over to the first two rows of the bleachers and flopped herself down in an empty seat.

Slowly, the bleachers began to fill up the closer it got to game time. Eden let herself get lost in watching Charlie and the way her ponytail swung behind her. She didn't even care that she was unabashedly staring at her roommate. Really, she couldn't think of a better way to spend her time. She didn't care what anyone else thought.

The game had just officially started when Eden was pulled from her love-sick, one-sided staring contest by a friendly voice.

"Hey, Eden! Good to see you again," Greg said as he eased into the seat next to her.

It only took a moment for Eden to place the guy—he was Abby's boyfriend, who she'd met at the first game.

"Oh hey, Greg," she replied smiling sweetly. "How've you been?"

"Can't complain," Greg said, shrugging and grinning at her. "Not as good as you, though."

Eden cocked her head to the side and gave him a questioning look.

"Oh, come on! The musical?" Greg said, smiling even more broadly. "You were incredible, seriously. Abby thought you were better than Jess Lockhart."

Eden couldn't help it, her eyes widened in shock. Jess Lockhart was the senior who had played Anna. "Th-thank you," she stuttered out.

Greg laughed at her shocked face. "Don't look so surprised. Charlie's been telling the team since you were cast that you were going to steal the show. She was right."

Eden inadvertently looked back out to game, her eyes automatically landing on Charlie as the girl jogged across the court. A dopey grin spread over Eden's face as she watched Charlie sink her first three-pointer of the night and then immediately turn her attention to playing defense.

"I wanted to ask you something," Greg piped up again, drawing Eden's attention away from the game once more.

"What's that?"

"Well, Friday night is the first away game. Me and a few of the others," he said, nodding towards the other girls and guys seated in the first two rows of the bleachers, "are gonna carpool up to Beloit College after classes. I've got a spot open in my car if you want to join."

"Really? That would be amazing," Eden gushed. "I'd  _love_ to go."

"Awesome," Greg smiled. "Make sure you wear school colors. There's usually not many people that can make it to the away games so we have to be extra loud to make up for it."

"Do you guys go to all the away games?" Eden asked, immediately planning to go to as many of Charlie's games as she possibly could.

"No, not all of them," Greg responded, shaking his head. "It kind of depends on how far away they are. Beloit's about two and half hours, so not too bad."

Eden nodded understandingly. "Do I need to chip in for gas money or anything?"

"Nah, don't worry about it," Greg said good-naturedly. "I'd be going anyway. I never miss Abby's game unless I absolutely have to. But if you showed up with some snacks…I wouldn't turn you down."

Eden laughed. "I'll see what I can come up with."

The Vallance ladies were playing well, but the opposing team from Blackburne College was pretty good, too. Charlie was a bit worried. Eden was more subdued in her cheering than she had been at the first game, but every time Charlie looked up to the bleachers, she was there, staring right back at her, shooting her a smile or an encouraging thumbs up. Still, Charlie couldn't fight the uneasiness she was feeling and it was starting to affect her playing.

Finally, in the second half, after Charlie had been fouled twice and missed all four of her free throws, the Coach benched her. She spent the rest of the game hunched over with a towel on her head, sipping sullenly from her bottle of Gatorade. When the buzzer signaled the end of the game, Charlie wasn't surprised that her team had lost, but that didn't help her feel any better about it.

* * *

Eden was waiting for her when Charlie finally emerged from the locker room almost an hour after the game had ended. She had been hoping that Eden would just go back to the room. She felt sad and upset that the team had lost and embarrassed that she had missed four free throws. Charlie's ego was already bruised when it came to Eden and her poor performance in the game that night wasn't going to help things between them.

"You didn't have to wait for me," Charlie said dejectedly, her eyes downcast and the hood of her team sweatshirt pulled up over her head.

"I wanted to," Eden said, falling into step beside her roommate as they exited the Field House. "It was a close game, Charlie. You didn't lose by much."

"Yeah, well," Charlie bit out. "I played like shit tonight."

"I thought you were great," Eden reassured the other girl, hoping to cheer her up. "Not to mention, you look really sexy in your jersey."

Charlie almost dropped her gym bag at the comment, but was able to recover. After clearing her throat, she said quietly, "Well, unfortunately they don't give you points for that."

"If they did," Eden said, enjoying the response she'd gotten from Charlie, "you'd win every game."

Eden scooched closer to Charlie on the sidewalk so that their shoulders were brushing as they walked. After a few minutes of walking like this, Charlie came to an abrupt halt and turned to face Eden. Her eyes looked sad and pleading when Eden met them with her own.

"It's okay to be a little off some nights," Eden whispered, running her hand down Charlie's arm until she reached her hand and taking it gently in her own.

Charlie just stared into Eden's eyes, like she was looking for something very specific. Eden decided to let her stare as long as she needed. It felt like it went on for an eternity, but really, it was only another minute or so before Charlie spoke.

"Eden…what is this?" Charlie asked, holding up their joined hands as she glanced down at them. "What are you doing?"

"I'm holding your hand," Eden said simply.

"Why?" Charlie asked, her voice so melancholy that it made Eden's heart ache.

Eden wasn't sure how to answer her, but she tried anyway. She would always try to find words for Charlie.

"I…" Eden sighed, then a small smile crept onto her face. "Because it feels right. Because I want to."

"You're not just trying to cheer me up because I sucked tonight?" Charlie grumbled.

Eden giggled at that. "I don't really like sports that much, Charlotte," Eden admitted.

"So why did you come tonight?"

"Because…I like  _you_ , Charlie," Eden muttered suddenly feeling very shy.

"I don't want you to feel like you have to come just because we're friends, Eden," Charlie said, being obtuse on purpose.

Eden sighed and shook her head, then brought her eyes back up to Charlie's, imploring her with her gaze to understand what she was trying to say; to hear the meaning behind the words of all the things she couldn't bring herself to confess yet.

"I  _like_ you, Charlotte."

The expression on Charlie's face was difficult to describe, but it was almost like she had blanked out, or had retreated further into herself. Eden felt that Charlie had left her face for some other part of her body and if she were able to search the girl, Eden might have found her thoughts hiding in some obscure place like her elbow or hip. It wasn't at all the reaction that Eden had been hoping for. She felt Charlie's hand go limp in her own slowly let it drop as they began walking again.

Charlie didn't know what was wrong with her. If Eden had said something like that to her just the week before, she would have been ecstatic,  _overjoyed_ even _._ She would have grabbed Eden on the spot and kissed her senseless. But now, Eden's confession just made her feel scared. She felt like she was up for another free throw and she was choking under the pressure. All Charlie was sure of was that there was a little voice in the back of her telling her that this was a trap, that Eden didn't realize what she sounded like, and if Charlie was stupid enough to get her hopes up again, she was just going to get hurt.

* * *

Once they were back in the dorm room and Charlie had put all of her basketball gear away, she sat down on the edge of her bed and, with her eyes locked on the carpet, she cleared her throat and said, "Look, I don't want to kick you out of your own room, but, um…I kind of just need to be alone for a little bit. Do you think you could give me like an hour?" She felt horrible asking Eden for this, but she just needed a minute to think, to try to figure out what was happening. And she needed Eden to not be there to do that.

"Oh…" Eden said, unable to keep the hurt from lacing her words. "Yeah…of…of course. I'll just, I'll go."

Eden went to grab her coat and her keys again, which she'd only just put away. Charlie watched her from the corner of her eye. Eden was just heading out the door again when she turned around and said, "Actually, could I…borrow your car? I have an errand to run."

"Yeah, sure," Charlie said, grateful to be able to do something for Eden in lieu of throwing her out of her own room. "The keys are on the hook."

"Thanks," Eden nodded, grabbed the keys from the hook she put up on the wall just for that purpose, and left, closing the door behind her.

As soon as she was gone, Charlie felt about a hundred times worse, but at the same time, she was glad to be alone. There was a lot less pressure on her to feel okay when she was alone and she felt like she could finally just take a minute to think about what was going on and what she wanted to happen with Eden.

Charlie flopped down on her bed, still fully dressed in her basketball sweats and tried to sort out her thoughts. She knew she liked Eden as much more than a friend. Well, if she was being honest with herself, Charlie knew she liked Eden more than she had ever liked anyone. That scared her. No one had ever had the power to crush her like that. What she kept coming back to was the way Eden had freaked out when her Mom showed up. That wasn't  _nothing_. Eden was obviously struggling with what being attracted to women meant and the last thing Charlie wanted was to be some sort of experiment for the other girl. Not that she thought Eden would do that to her, but it was what Charlie most feared in this situation—to give her whole heart to Eden just to have her roommate realize that she didn't like women after all. It was almost an hour exactly—10:30 pm— when Charlie fell into a fitful sleep, lying on top of her blankets, Fancy the bear resting on her stomach.

* * *

Charlie jolted awake very suddenly, a feeling of dread immediately washing over her. The lights were still on. She felt disoriented with drowsiness but fought the feeling down, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her phone. It was just after 1 am and Eden wasn't in the room. It didn't look like she had been back at all. Charlie blinked a few times, trying to focus and figure out why she'd woken up and why she felt so panicked. There was nothing, though. No noises. The room was as it should be, but for Eden's marked absence.

Charlie decided to call Eden, her foot tapping impatiently against the floor as she waited for the other girl to pick up. After six rings, however, the call went to voicemail. Charlie only hesitated for a moment before she let the feeling in heart lead her to put on her shoes and head out of her room.

There were still a few girls awake and hanging out in the suite together when Charlie headed down the stairs and into the larger room, but Eden was not among them.

"Hey, any of y'all seen Eden?" she asked, her voice steady and clear.

"Oh hey, Charlie," one of the girls, Linda, greeted her. "Eden was here like a couple hours ago…she went in and talked to Val."

"Thanks," Charlie nodded, and moved over to the RA's bedroom.

Thankfully her door was still ajar, and when she rounded the corner, Charlie saw that Val was sitting on her small loveseat and watching some TV.

"Hey! Val," Charlie said, ignoring the flirtatious smirk that the RA always gave her when they interacted.

"Good evening, Cole," Val replied. "What can I do for you?"

"Linda said that Eden came to see you a couple hours ago?" Charlie said, cutting right to the chase.

"Yeah, she wanted to keys to the kitchen," Val answered. "She hasn't brought them back yet, though."

Craft Hall had a large kitchen in the basement that all the residents were free to use, but you had to have a key to get into any of the cabinets and use the communal pots, pans, and other equipment. Each of the Resident Advisors had a key for the girls that lived in their suite.

"Tough loss tonight," Val said conversationally, looking pointedly at the sweats that Charlie was still dressed in. "You looked good out there, though."

"Um…thanks," Charlie said, not really listening to her RA anymore now that she had information on Eden's whereabouts. That sinking feeling was still in her stomach. There was something wrong, but Charlie didn't know what it was. She just knew she needed to find Eden. "I gotta go," she threw over her shoulder as she turned and made a beeline for the suite door.

Charlie had just entered the basement when she smelled it. Something was burning. The panic in Charlie's stomach doubled as she broke into a run, heading for the kitchen as fast as she could. Rounding the corner and yanking the door to the kitchen open, Charlie saw Eden, her head resting on the small table that sat against one of the walls. She looked like she had fallen asleep, surrounded by grocery bags of baking ingredients. Charlie's heart slowed down for just a moment, seeing that Eden was safe. But then the acrid smell of something burning hit her again and her attention was pulled to the other side of the kitchen. Smoke was starting to billow out of the sides of the oven. Fear exploded in Charlie's heart. She rushed forward and started shaking Eden as hard as she could.

"Eden! Wake up!" she yelled.

Eden had just opened her eyes, rubbing the sleep from them rather adorably, Charlie thought, when the fire alarm started blaring.

Now that she was sure Eden was awake, Charlie scanned the kitchen quickly until she spotted what she was looking for.

"You need to get out of here!" Charlie yelled back at Eden, trying to wave the thickening smoke away from her roommate's confused features. "Go!"

Once again, Charlie sprang into action without thinking about what she was doing. She ran over to where she'd spotted the fire extinguisher and yanked it off the wall. The smoke was already starting to make her eyes water and her throat burn. This was stupid, she registered that somewhere in the back of her mind, she should have just grabbed Eden and run out of the building, but Charlie kept going. The thought of all the other girls sleeping in the building pushed her to try to put out the fire before it got any worse.

Charlie pulled the pin out of the fire extinguisher and moved even further into the smoke filled kitchen. She vaguely registered Eden yelling her name, but she could barely hear her. Adrenaline was pumping madly through her veins as she balanced herself on one foot and used the other to pry open the oven door. The amount of smoke that poured out almost knocked Charlie over completely. She felt like she was going to suffocate. She could barely see. Still, she kept going. Eden was screaming now, the sound mixing with the continued blaring of the fire alarm. It was funny, sort of, Charlie thought as she steeled herself and aimed the nozzle of the extinguisher, that such a tiny fire could create so much smoke. At least, it looked pretty small when Charlie finally squeezed down on the trigger and unloaded the white substance into the interior of the oven. She sprayed once, before she had to stop to steady herself. Charlie was starting to feel extremely dizzy and light headed. She was able to get out one more well-aimed shot with the fire extinguisher before she felt her knees start to give out as a harsh, hacking cough ripped out of her lungs.

Before she could hit the floor, though, Charlie vaguely registered a pair of arms grabbing her around her chest and pulling her backwards. She was coughing so much now that she couldn't focus on anything but the need for air and her body's instinct to get the smoke out of her lungs. She knew it was Eden, though, dragging her out of the kitchen, down the hazy corridor of the basement, up a small flight of stairs, and out onto the lawn outside of Craft Hall.

Eden collapsed onto the damp grass of the lawn, heaving Charlie down next to her. Charlie rolled onto her hands and knees as soon as Eden had released her, horrible wracking coughs tearing through her body. Eden almost felt bad for her. Almost. She didn't even wait for the coughing to stop before she hauled off and slugged Charlie in the shoulder.

"You—absolute—IDIOT!" Eden screamed at Charlie, drawing the attention of the other residents of Craft Hall who had all evacuated on to the lawn as well. " What were you thinking?! You could have died!"

Charlie continued to cough as she got out a response. "M-me?!" she said angrily, looking over at Eden in disbelief. Was she really going to lecture her  _now?_ "You're the…" Charlie had to stop again for another round of coughing, "…the one who FELL ASLEEP WITH THE OVEN ON!"

"I WAS BAKING A PIE FOR YOU!" Eden bellowed, letting out a few coughs of her own, though they weren't nearly as bad as Charlie, who had inhaled a great deal more smoke than she had.

"Well…from what I saw…" Charlie stopped and actually threw up a little on the grass in front of her, but it didn't slow her down one bit, "it didn't look very appetizing!"

"You are such a bitch sometimes!" Eden huffed, embarrassment starting to creep in and overtake her anger now that she was sure Charlie would be okay.

"Oh please!" Charlie let out a bark of laughter than turned into a hack halfway through. "I just saved your ass!"

"Excuse me? I just saved YOUR ASS!" Eden retorted, pointing back at the building to make her point. "You'd still be in there if it weren't for me!"

"Yeah," Charlie chuckled bitterly, "you've been thinking about my ass a lot lately, haven't you?"

"SHUT UP!" Eden screamed again, smacking Charlie across the shoulder.

The fire department had arrived by this point, along with an ambulance, and as Charlie and Eden were easily identifiable as the two who had been most affected by the small fire, medical personnel quickly broke up their fight. A couple of EMTs helped them both over to the ambulance, sat them down on the tailgate, and gave them both oxygen masks to breathe with for awhile.

Both girls sat in a moody silence with their oxygen masks strapped around their heads, turning to glare at one another every now and then. Eventually, after half an hour or oxygen each, a couple of fire fighters came over to interview Eden about what had happened. As Eden explained to the fire captain how'd she accidently fallen asleep while baking, Charlie was pulled farther into the ambulance and checked out a bit more thoroughly.

Eden stood nervously outside of the ambulance when she was done talking with the fire captain, watching as the EMT listen to Charlie breathe, checked her eyes and her blood pressure, closely examined her hands and arms for any burns, and at long last, pronounced her free to go, advising her to go into the ER if her cough lasted more than 24 hours.

* * *

It was nearly 3 am when Charlie and Eden trudged back up the stairs, Charlie having to stop and catch her breath half way up while Eden waited for her in a tense silence. All the other girls had long since disappeared back into their respective suites, and headed back to bed, so there was no one else in the stairwell or the hallways as they made their way back to their room.

Charlie stopped off in the bathroom and splashed a few large handfuls of cold water on her face before she joined Eden in their room, closing the door firmly behind her and clicking the lock into place.

Eden rounded on her almost immediately. "Seriously, what were you  _thinking_?" she spat.

Charlie turned around and faced Eden but she didn't respond, so Eden pressed on.

"That was just the most foolish thing you've ever done and I am  _so mad_ at you right now," Eden said in a harsh but quiet tone, trying to be respectful of her sleeping suitemates. She looked like she was about to start crying.

Still, Charlie said nothing. She was trying to keep in mind everything that she'd decided earlier in the night when she'd been alone, but none of it seemed to matter much anymore. The fact that Eden could have died, that she could have died, was starting to sink in.

"I may have…ruined…everything between us," Eden choked out, a few tears slipping from her eyes as she shoved an accusing finger into Charlie's collarbone, "but…but that doesn't give you the  _right_ to just risk your  _life_ for me."

Charlie stared hard at Eden as the other girl tore into her, but her silence continued.

"Will you say something?!" Eden finally spat, moving in closer to Charlie's personal space, trying to elicit a response from her.

"Could you just stop talking for five fucking minutes, Eden?" Charlie finally spoke.

Then, Charlie took a step forward and closed the last bit of distance between them. If Eden was fire, then Charlie was water. That was the last thought that Charlie had before she wrapped one hand around the back of Eden's neck, pulled her in, and kissed her.

Eden's lips weren't soft. They were chapped and dry from the smoke and all her talking, but Charlie had never in her life experienced a more satisfying kiss. She felt it from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. It took Eden a moment to respond, that's how Charlie knew she'd truly caught her off guard. But it was just a moment, and then Eden was kissing her back, wrapping her arms around Charlie's back as their lips moved together slowly, experiencing each others' feel and taste for the first time.

It started out soft and tentative, but soon, Charlie was licking her way into Eden's open mouth, the other girl moaning quietly at the new sensation, a look of complete bliss gracing her features. Eden couldn't believe this was what she had been missing out on. She didn't know that it was possible to grin so widely and still continue to kiss someone.

All the while, the smell of smoke lingered in the two girl's nostrils, cementing this memory in their minds more firmly than if it had happened any other night or in any other way—so sweet and smoky that it made Charlie think of barbeque and summer cookouts. The thought made her laugh, which, in turn, brought on another coughing fit, causing her to pull away for a moment. But it was just a moment, and then they were kissing again, Eden walking them slowly backwards toward her bed, and then pulling Charlie down on top of her, both of them unable to contain their smiles as Eden pushed Charlie's hair behind one of her ears.

What fucking idiots they both were, to think they could have ever fought this, Charlie realized as she sucked eagerly on Eden's top lip, her fingers wrapped firmly in Eden's black curls. To think that they were somehow in control of the way they felt about each other, or that they would be able push it aside. This was inescapable.

They only kissed that night, tangled together in Eden's bed, and they were both still scared and confused about what was happening between them, each for their own reasons. But they knew that from here on out, whatever happened, they were in it together. And that made the intense emotions they were both feeling a little less scary. It was still just as monumental, just as life changing, but the fact that they were kissing each other made it a hell of a lot better because they were no longer alone.

* * *

"Okay, so…last night was without a doubt the greatest night of my life," Charlie started. It was morning and she and Eden were sitting in the cafeteria together having breakfast. "I mean, other than our dorm almost burning down—"

"Here, eat this," Eden said, handing an orange to Charlie who took it and started peeling off the rind. "And yes, I wholeheartedly agree. It was fantastic."

"But," Charlie continued, blowing out a large breath between her teeth. "I mean…okay, I guess I should first say that I definitely want to do it more."

"Okay," Eden said, her eyes narrowed, trying to understand what Charlie was working herself up to say.

"But I think if we're," Charlie lowered her voice slightly before she went on, " _making out_ all the time and I'm trying to play basketball  _and_ studying for finals. Well, I think that might make my head explode. So I was wondering if maybe we could just, sort of, pause this until after break?"

Eden breathed out a sigh of relief. "I was actually thinking the same thing. This is all extremely new for me and I'd like to take things slow," Eden admitted.

Charlie smiled. "Thank god. I was worried you were going to take this the wrong way."

"That's understandable," Eden replied, taking a bite of cantaloupe. "You know, we're really handling this very maturely. We should give ourselves a pat on the back."

"How about I give myself a pat on the back," Charlie smirked, doing just that, "and you can just stop starting fires."

"You're such a jerk, Charlie," Eden said, glaring at the girl across from her and kicking her leg under the table.

"Jesus! Ouch!" Charlie yelped. "You're so violent."

"You like it," Eden remarked shrewdly, giving Charlie a coy smile.

"Yeah, I do," Charlie said seductively, shooting a sultry look at her roommate. "I like it when you're rough with me."

"Stop flirting with me and finish your breakfast," Eden said. "We're going to be late for class."

Charlie happily grabbed the large cinnamon roll off her plate and tore into it.

* * *

The last week and half of their fall term went by very quickly indeed. Other than basketball practice, Charlie spent all of her free time with Jo, Emily, and Eden in the library, trying to prepare for her upcoming finals, which would begin the following Monday. She only had 4 days to cram for all three tests. She was starting to wish she had listened to Eden and started studying two weeks ago. On top of that, Charlie had her first away game on Friday night, so she was worrying about that as well.

She thought it was going to be difficult to keep her lips off of Eden, but honestly, they were both so exhausted at the end of the day that it wasn't that bad. Now that she knew Eden felt the same way about her, it was enough, for now, to be able to give her a small smile or play footsie with her underneath the table in the library when Jo and Emily weren't paying attention. Eden had also developed a habit of giving her hand a little squeeze any time they parted ways. Charlie thought she was probably doing it in lieu of giving her a goodbye kiss. It never failed to make her smile.

They only ended up breaking once before making it through their finals and leaving for winter break. It was Friday, at Beloit College, and Charlie had just jogged out onto the unfamiliar court to start warming up for her first away game.

"Looking good, Cole!" she heard a very familiar voice shout from the away team's side of the bleachers.

Charlie whipped around so fast her ponytail smacked her in the face. Eden was sitting only a few feet away from her with a small group of Vallance supporters. Charlie ran over to her with an enormous smile breaking across her face.

"What are you doing here?" Charlie gushed, grabbing both of Eden's hands in her, needing to be sure she was really there.

Eden just smiled at her and shrugged. "You're my best friend, Charlie. Why wouldn't I be here?"

Charlie couldn't help it—placing a hand on either side of her face, Charlie leaned in and planted a firm kiss on Eden's lips. The other girl was ready for her this time, and kissed her back happily, too caught up in the moment to care who saw.

"Sorry," Charlie grinned as she dropped her hands and moved backwards onto the court again, keeping her eyes locked with Eden's until the last moment possible. Eden couldn't do anything but grin back at her.

When Charlie rejoined her team, Abby came up behind her in line for their lay-up drill, shoving her in the back of the shoulder.

"Just your roommate, huh?" Abby teased her with a knowing smile on her face.

"What? You don't kiss your roommate?" Charlie asked playfully, catching the ball as it was passed to her.

Charlie had a near flawless game that night. Everyone played hard and Vallance was able to edge out Beloit for another win. Eden cheered so loudly that she lost her voice the next day.

* * *

Finals weren't as bad as Charlie thought they would be. She had built them up so much in her mind that when she was actually sitting down and taking the tests she was a bit surprised by how well prepared she felt for them. Still, it was a busy and stressful couple of days—more so for Eden than for her. Eden cared about her grades  _a lot_ , and she was up until 2 am most nights, doing last minute cramming sessions for all her classes. She only went to sleep when Charlie got fed up with her, pulled Eden into bed with her and made her give Fancy a kiss on the nose before she turned off her lamp.

Charlie finished her finals before Eden did, but she waited until Eden had left before she drove back to Chicago. She stayed partly because she wanted to be able to give Eden a ride to the airport and a proper goodbye, but Charlie also stayed because she just didn't want to be at her house in Chicago any longer than she absolutely had to be.

As she pulled onto the highway and set her cruise control, Charlie had a nagging suspicions that it was going to feel even worse being back with her family in Chicago now that she knew what a real home could feel like.


End file.
